Air Weapons: November 27, 2003

Archives

On November 21st, the U.S. Air Force conducted it's second, and final, test of the MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) bomb near Elgin Air Force base in Florida. This one was dropped from a SOCOM (Special Operations Command) MC-130E aircraft, and detonated 46 seconds later. The blast could be felt several kilometers away, and the mushroom shaped cloud (that rose to over 10,000 feet) could be seen more than 40 kilometers away. The ten ton bomb, the largest in the U.S. inventory, is now considered available for use, mainly by SOCOM. One possible area that might see MOAB used is Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda bands operate out in the desolate hills, hiding in caves. The bomb is quite accurate, using GPS, but is overkill in most situations. As a psychological weapon, however, there's nothing else that quite matches it. The bomb is literally pushed out the back of a cargo plane, rather than being hung underneath a bombers wing.


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close