US military drops 'mother of all bombs on IS' in Afghanistan

[davis411]

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-us-dropped-largest-non-165811698.html

 

Not sure if Iraq related, but really cool, 

[Jaygo]

Love it!

[nannab]

Good find Davis411 ! The mother of all bombs just short of nuclear.

Thank you Mr. President to be sir

[The Englishman]

US military drops 'mother of all bombs on IS' in Afghanistan

 

 

Media captionWatch 2003 footage of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) being tested

The US military says it has dropped the most destructive non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat on an Islamic State group tunnel complex in Afghanistan.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), known as "the mother of all bombs", was first tested in 2003, but had not been used before.

The Pentagon said it was dropped from a US aircraft in Nangarhar province.

The news came hours after the Pentagon admitted an air strike in Syria mistakenly killed 18 rebels.

It said a partnered force had mistakenly identified the target location as an IS position, but the strike on 11 April had killed rebels from the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by Washington.

How powerful is 'mother of all bombs'?

'Many militants killed'

The strike in Afghanistan follows last week's death of a US special forces soldier fighting IS in Nangarhar.

The 21,600lb (9,800kg) bomb was dropped in Achin district on Thursday evening local time, the Pentagon said. It is more than 9m (30 feet) in length.

"We targeted a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters use to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, using another name for IS.

He said necessary precautions were taken to prevent civilian casualties and "collateral damage".

The area where the bomb was dropped is mostly mountainous and sparsely populated, BBC correspondents say. Local sources said the explosion was so powerful it was heard in two neighbouring districts.

The US has not yet confirmed the results of the strike, but a local official told the BBC that many IS militants were killed, allegedly including the brother of a senior leader.

---

'A huge weapon' - Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent

The clue is in the ungainly name - the MOAB or GBU-43/B massive ordnance air blast is the US military's most destructive conventional (that is non-nuclear) bomb.

It is a huge weapon, and is GPS-guided. This looks to be the first time it has ever been used in combat.

It was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft - the US Special Forces variant of the Hercules transport. The weapon is carried on a special cradle inside the aircraft from which it is extracted by a parachute.

Its principle effect is a massive blast over a huge area. It is a larger version of weapons used during the Vietnam War.

The Trump administration's policy towards Afghanistan remains under consideration but the use of this weapon sends a powerful signal that IS is top of the administration's target list wherever its offshoots may be found.

---

Gen John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said the jihadist group's "losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence.

"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive."

Image copyrightAFP Image captionIS fighters have moved from Arab countries into Afghanistan

IS announced the establishment of its Khorasan branch - an old name for Afghanistan and surrounding areas - in January 2015. It was the first time that IS had officially spread outside the Arab world.

It was the first major militant group to directly challenge the Afghan Taliban's dominance over the local insurgency.

However, experts say it has struggled to build a wide political base and the indigenous support it expected in Afghanistan.

Estimates about IS's numerical strength inside Afghanistan vary, ranging from several hundred to a few thousand.

[boosterbglee]

A great big one of these.......Hasta la Vista!

[10 YEARS LATER]

THE " MOAB " - even though it's not a nuke, its explosive power leaves a mushroom cloud. It's what the Bad Guys deserve 

[Synopsis]

Davis411, I made a post in Off Topic of the same subject matter after you made your post. I apologize for double posting.

All The Best!

Go Moola Nova!

 

[alreis]

Can you just imagine the shockwave traveling thru those tunnels. Awesome

[Artitech]

I hope they kill all those dirty bas t--ds !!!

 

[Mask Phantom]

Get her...done.

[davis411]

38 minutes ago, Synopsis said:

Davis411, I made a post in Off Topic of the same subject matter after you made your post. I apologize for double posting.

All The Best!

Go Moola Nova!

 

No worries 

bombs away 

no doubt I posted wrong area

but what a big bomb

reminds me of the dong I hold cause it's so big in value 

 

davis for president

i would show u bombings

[bostonangler]

The United States Defense Department likes to show off. After proving it can move with the quick strike capability of a cobra as it did when it launched 59 tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield, the Pentagon on Thursday decided to up the ante by showing its muscle. 

They dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb against ISIS in the Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan. The GBU-43B known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) or the Mother of All Bombs, is a 20,000-pound monster. It took $314 million to develop and has a unit cost of $16 million.

 

 

I thought we had conservatives running the country. This sure doesn't look fiscally conservative to me. Surely our great deal maker can get a better, greater, sweeter deal on bombs. Maybe he can get one of his manufacturers in China to do it cheaper.

 

B/A

Edited April 14, 2017 by bostonangler

[yota691]

Quote

 

“The giant bomb U.S. forces dropped Thursday on an ISIS training camp in Afghanistan did not cost $314 million to develop, or $16 million per unit as reported by multiple news outlets.

Every news report about cost of the “Mother of All Bombs” relied on a misreading of a 2011 article or a dubious internet website that InfoWars once linked to with a “healthy bit of skepticism.”

The actual cost of the bomb is unknown. The actual cost of the program isn’t publicly available because the Mother of All Bombs, officially known as GBU-43 or the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), is manufactured by the military and not a private defense company. 

In fact, the Air Force doesn’t even keep track of the per unit cost, nor the cost of the program as a whole, because it is not manufactured privately.

“We don’t have a cost per unit” for the MOAB, Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “These munitions were produced in-house so we don’t have a standard procurement cost associated with them.”

 

 

11 hours ago, bostonangler said:

It took $314 million to develop and has a unit cost of $16 million.

FAKE NEWS!!!!