Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) – Is it on its way to Iran?
Posted by Arms Control Center in NUCLEAR WEAPONS, tags: atomic bomb, Atomic Energy Agency, bunker buster, Iran, Israel, Massive Ordnance Penetrator, MOP, Natanz, nuclear facilities, nuclear program, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons facilitiesThe US Air Force has taken delivery of a new 30,000-pound bomb from Boeing that is capable of penetrating deeply buried enemy targets. The huge bunker buster, dubbed the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), is built to fit the B-2 stealth bomber.
Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller said in a short statement that the Air Force Global Strike Command started receiving the bombs in September. He added that the deliveries “will meet requirements for the current operational need.”
The bomb delivery report comes at a time when the international community is trying to increase its efforts to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program while reports on Israel’s plans to carry out a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities are increasing.
The efforts have gone in to overdrive following the publication of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency report last week stating that Iran was trying to develop an atomic bomb to fit on a missile capable of hitting Israel.
Iran has two underground nuclear weapons facilities that are known to the west – one underground near the city of Natanz and the other on a mountainside near the city of Qom.