War against Iran: Trump’s mega bomb against Iran’s underground nuclear position

Very deep underground is the important and best protected Iranian nuclear system in Fordo. The Israelis have been bombing targets in Iran for around ten days, but this underground fortress can only reach the US military, which is now attacking Fordo on Sunday night. The US army has the weapons for this-especially the GBU-57 bomb: the abbreviation sounds unspectacular, but the destructive power of the massive bunker is huge.

The bunker breaker precision-led with a GPS system is around six meters long and 13.6 tons are heavy. Due to its dimensions and the high weight, the bomb can only be thrown off by Type B-2 tarnish caps bombers, which the US military alone has.

US President Donald Trump said Fordo had been attacked with a “complete load of bombs” – but initially did not give any details that bombs used the military. Experts already agreed that a successful attack on Fordo would hardly be conceivable without the massive bunker breaker. “No other military could have done that worldwide,” Trump burst after the attack on his Truth Social platform. Already on Friday he had said that the arsenal of the Israelis Tauge was not to be too weak.

US media: Several bunker breakers against Fordo

A representative of the US government confirmed the “New York Times” that several GBU-57 bunker breakers were used in the use against Fordo. Fordo is now more obsolete, said the US government representative.

The GBU-57 was developed by the manufacturer Boeing on behalf of the US military, especially for deep under rock, thick layers of earth or concrete targets. With the force of her own weight – accelerated by a drop from great height – the tons -heavy bomb rams the way for your explosive load with a particularly hardened tip. The detonation then only takes place in depth.

“The clipping of the explosive head is made from a special high-performance steel alloy and the design enables a large explosive load while maintaining the integrity of the bomb during the impact,” says an explanatory document of the US military.

According to the “New York Times”, the GBU-57 can drill around 60 meters deep into the underground to ignite its explosive load that weighs up to 2.3 tons. Because the Fordo nuclear system was located deep below the surface of the earth, the US military came to the conclusion that several bombs that were struck in the same place would be necessary to destroy the heavily secured complex. The newspaper quoted estimates that the facility near the city of Ghom should possibly be 80 to 110 meters below the surface. How deep it actually is is unclear.

The GBU-57 bomb is part of a type of bunker breaker, which is also known as MOP under the American abbreviation (“massive order penetrator”; in German, for example, “severe penetrating bomb”). According to US media reports, the bomb had never been used in combat. Only in a test area of ​​the US air weapon in the sparsely populated southwestern state of New Mexico was she thrown several times for test purposes.

Bomb drop associated with risks

Expert Heather Williams from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIs) warned of the attack that a use of the GBU-57 against Fordo is also associated with “numerous risks”. “First of all and most importantly: it could be that the bomb fails to completely destroy the facility.” In addition, the US government must take into account the risk that Iran could then attack US bases in the region as a retaliation.

The US military has stationed around 40,000 soldiers there. Support points such as in Bahrain and Qatar on the Persian Gulf, the crow flies are not far from Iran, could easily be the goal. In addition, Iran could also have US goals attacked by allied Shiite militias in the neighboring country.

Use with the help of tanker aircraft?

The tarpaulin bombers with a range of up to 9,600 kilometers required to drop the GBU-57 are regularly stationed in the U.S. state of Missouri at the WHITEMAN Air Force base-i.e. around 11,000 kilometers as the crow flies from the possible goal Fordo. When used over larger distances, the bombers must be refueled in the air. An earlier B-2 use in Afghanistan, confirmed by the US Air Force, shows that this does not have to be an obstacle. The state on the Hindu Kush is a little further away from Whiteman than Iran.

According to the military, the B-2 has a supply limit of a good 18 tons. According to media reports, the Air Force has around 20 of these billioners. The GBU-57 is reportedly only available in small numbers. According to 2015, the Air Force had ordered 20 pieces of it.

Why is Fordo so important?

According to Israeli information, the well -protected facility near the city of Ghom was the most important remaining goal when it comes to preventing the construction of an Iranian nuclear weapon. Israel has already attacked other important goals of the nuclear program in Natan, Tehran and Isfahan.

In Fordo, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), hundreds of centrifuges at the excess of overflow can be produced, with which almost consolidated uranium can be produced with a purity degree of up to 60 percent. The political leadership in Tehran does not strive for nuclear weapons. However, there are doubts about this representation – also because Iran is the only country to produce such high -enriched uranium without nuclear weapons.

Trump hopes that the bombing of the remaining significant nuclear facilities by the United States will bring Iran to the negotiating table again in order to guarantee the most extensive task of the nuclear program.