Global Security Newswire
Daily News on Nuclear, Biological & Chemical Weapons, Terrorism and Related Issues
Bunker Buster Deployment Pushed Back to Late 2010
The United States has delayed until December 2010 a projected date for enabling its B-2 stealth bomber to deliver a new bunker-buster bomb, Reuters reported Friday (see GSN, Aug. 3).
Washington's options for addressing nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea could be affected by deployment of the conventional Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound weapon intended to target hardened, underground facilities that could house WMD assembly or storage areas. The weapon, set to become the nation's largest conventional bomb, is capable of producing a blast 10 times as powerful as its forerunner, according to Reuters.
"Funding delays and enhancements to the planned test schedule have pushed the capability availability date to December 2010," Defense Department spokeswoman Tara Rigler wrote in an e-mail.
The Pentagon added that the B-52 bomber would not serve as an "operational delivery platform" for the new weapon.
Last August, the Air Force indicated that B-2 aircraft would be able to accommodate the new weapon by July 2010 (Jim Wolf, Reuters, Dec. 18).
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