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| GBU-57 |
If the United States decides to provide Israel with more direct support in its possible attack on Iran, one option would be to provide so-called "bunker bombs" capable of causing significant damage to deeply hidden facilities such as the Fordo nuclear complex, located deep inside the mountain.
The main candidate for this role is the American GBU-57 guided bunker buster aircraft bomb, also known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). Developed by Boeing, this aerial bomb is capable of penetrating into the ground to a depth of 61 meters or piercing up to 19 meters of reinforced concrete before exploding. The mass of the bomb is about 13.6 tons, and the warhead capacity reaches almost 2.5 tons of explosives.
The GBU-57 was designed specifically to defeat such hard-to-reach and deep-lying targets as Iran's underground nuclear facilities and fortified military installations. The B-2 Spirit strategic stealth bomber is used to deliver the bomb, capable of invisibly penetrating airspace with a dense air defense system. In the future, it is planned to use a newer B-21 Raider platform.
The use of such bombs can have far-reaching political and military consequences. A strike on Fordo using GBU-57 could seriously damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, but at the same time jeopardize any chance of Iran resuming negotiations on its nuclear program, which were sought by former US President Donald Trump.
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