Boeing Successfully Improved 30,000-lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator Bomb

Boeing has successfully improved the performance of the 30,000-lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The Pentagon’s director of operational testing, Michael Gilmore, has confirmed that tests conducted with the heavy GBU-57, a 20-foot long GPS-guided bomb believed to be able to penetrate 200 feet of concrete before exploding, have demonstrated that the redesigned bomb is capable to hit and destroy deeply buried targets.

The enhanced MOP features tail-fin modifications to fix bugs identified in testings as well as as a second fuse to effectively prosecute hardened underground targets. The modifications were tested with five bomb drops from a B-2 stealth bomber on the White Sands Missile Range, conducted between June and October, and two ground tests. The B-2 is the only platform in the U.S. Air Force inventory currently capable to carry and release the heaviest U.S. bomb, even if B-52s were used in previous tests.

With the furtherly improved “bunker buster”, the U.S. have finally obtained the weapon they needed to destroy nuclear facilities as well as bunkers that protect chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

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source: theaviationist.com

URS to Support the B-2 Bomber Program by Providing Engineering Services

On Jan. 28, URS Corporation announced that it has been awarded a task order from the U.S. Air Force to provide engineering, program management, planning, analysis and logistics support for the B-2 Bomber program. The task order, which has a one year base term and four one-year option periods, has a maximum value of $63 million to URS if all option periods are exercised. The task order was awarded under the General Service Administration (GSA) Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services’ Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract.
Commenting on the award, Randall A. Wotring, President of Federal Services for URS, said: “We are pleased to have been selected for this task order, which allows us to continue to support the U.S. Air Force through our services for the B-2 Bomber program.”

Also known as the Stealth Bomber, the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is an American heavy bomber with “low observable” stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses and deploy both conventional and nuclear weapons. Because of its considerable capital and operational costs, the Congress slashed initial plans to purchase 132 bombers to just 21 during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The B-2 is the only aircraft that can carry large air to surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration. The program has been the subject of espionage and counter-espionage activity and the B-2 has provided prominent public spectacles at air shows since the 1990s.

-asdnews.com

-wikipedia.org