I believe this is the first time that the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb has ever been used in combat. Known informally as "MOAB", it weights 21,600 pounds. It's a GPS-guided gravity bomb that uses a parachute to deploy from the rear cargo opening of a carrier aircraft. This one was dropped from an MC-130. The target area was close to or right on the Afghan-Pakistan border, almost due east of and not all that far from the Afghan capital city of Kabul.
I wasn't sure whether I should go with "Politics", "Fun Stuff", or maybe "Religion", so I just went with "General".
Developed as a bunker buster, the apparent intention was to use against the caves they hide in. Hopefully it collapsed the whole system but, doubtful. Hopefully, some of the leadership was killed/trapped under a mountain of rock. Sure hope innocent goats weren't included in the killed, maimed or injured.
------------------ Ron
Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture, his mental state but … after a shooting, the problem is the gun....
Open your frigg'n minds, think about all the other tools that can be made into WMDs.
If you wish to upset a Conservative, lie to him. If you wish to upset a Liberal, tell him the truth.
Afghanistan? ISIS? Whatever happened to the Taliban?
Wait... I thought the Reds were the enemies.. the Commies. The "Yellows", the "Pinkos", the Nazis...the Guys with the different faces and different religions and...the Decepticons?
Maybe this MOAB will just make all the bad guys all go away (with magic)... but honestly, in this day and age, the REAL question should be, can by them doing this, they be making my recharge my phone faster (or something?) can I get some kind of trophy for this?
Big Bomb fills the room, (bounce bounce) <--- what MOST of America gives a crap ABOUT...
[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 04-13-2017).]
"PC music"... PC = personal computer? Doesn't do much for me, although it's a lot better than a lot of hip hop modern music that I've heard. (Yeah... I could see pop music going here. Sadly.) Although the lip syncing on this one was done very poorly. You can still hear the lyrics (I can't call it "singing") with the mic at her side.
I actually wondered how this thing worked. At first I thought it was a fuel-air bomb (much like igniting gasoline vapor, only on a grand scale) but it's not.
Even if it didn't collapse all of the tunnel system, I'm thinking it collapsed most of the entrances. Probably to the point that anyone inside is going to stay there. Works for me.
I'll bet anybody within miles who didn't die, is having a really bad day. Headache. Ringing ears...
Brits had their own MOAB a couple of generations ago.
The Grand Slam was a 22,000 lb earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against strategic targets during the Second World War.
They poured hot melted Torpex into a hardened casing which took a month to cool. The bombs were so expensive that crews were instructed not to jettison them if they weren't dropped during a raid.
Afghanistan? ISIS? Whatever happened to the Taliban?
"The Taliban (Pashto: طالبان ṭālibān "students"), alternatively spelled Taleban, which recently changed their name and identity to Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA),[30] is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within that country.[31][32] ...From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban held power in Afghanistan and enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. ...The Taliban have been condemned internationally for the harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, which has resulted in the brutal treatment of many Afghans, especially women. .. It is said that the Taliban did not include scholars learned in Islamic law and history. The refugee students, brought up in a totally male society, not only had no education in mathematics, science, history or geography, but also had no traditional skills of farming, herding, or handicraft-making, nor even knowledge of their tribal and clan lineages.[234] In such an environment, war meant employment, peace meant unemployment. Dominating women simply affirmed manhood. For their leadership, rigid fundamentalism was a matter not only of principle, but also of political survival. Taliban leaders "repeatedly told" Rashid that "if they gave women greater freedom or a chance to go to school, they would lose the support of their rank and file." -wiki
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 04-13-2017).]
Originally posted by rogergarrison: Wonder why they did such a nice, pretty paint job on it to just blow up...?
Oh, that's a "no-brainer." It doesn't just go "boom", it also becomes today's "newest shiny object" for the mainstream media types to report with wall-to-wall "news" coverage. They wouldn't want to have a "newest matte finish object" or a "newest primer without a finish coat object", would they? The current idiom (which they must have anticipated years ago when they made these bombs) is "newest shiny object". So they had to paint it. And these bombs have been in storage for many years, so they probably need a good, corrosion-resistant outer casing.
According to one of the Talking Heads or "TH" on the MSNBC cable TV channel, there are only 13 more of these bombs in the inventory.
TH also said that the target was a tunnel complex near the Af-Pak border with above-ground structures that they also wanted to destroy or damage. This was being used by "ISIL-K", which is a branch or subgroup that is allied with ISIL (ISIS), but has a lineage going back to AQ (Al-Qaeda). The "K" signifies "Khorasan". I will leave it to my readers (if there are any ) to consider what that's about.
The main effect of the bomb (~TH) is from the mechanical shock wave and "over pressure" that is created.
This is the second largest bomb in the U.S. inventory, aside from "nukes".
This is not the Massive Ordnance Penetrator or "bunker buster" that is designed to penetrate through layers of concrete or other reinforcements before exploding. That bomb is even heavier.
This was partly a tactical mission, and partly a test to help them evaluate whether or how they might use more of these bombs--the 13 or so that are in the in inventory (TH).
Since these super-sized gravity bombs have to be dropped over the target area from the rear of a low-flying cargo plane, they cannot be used against targets that are protected by any serious kind of air defense. If there is air defense, it would have to be degraded before dropping this kind of bomb on a target (TH).
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 04-13-2017).]
Hmm, I think I'll send in a few seals to see how that works. OK, not so good I think I'll send 59 cruise missiles at some empty hangers. Not sure they got the message, Here's a Mother of all bombs. This is fun, I'm gonna try out some more. I forget which one is the sarcasm emoticon?
Originally posted by rinselberg: Oh, that's a no-brainer. It doesn't just go "boom", it also becomes today's "newest shiny object" for the mainstream media types to report with wall-to-wall "news" coverage. They wouldn't want to have a "newest matte finish object" or a "newest primer without a finish coat object", would they? So they had to paint it. And these bombs have been in storage for many years, so they probably need a good, corrosion resistant outer casing.
rinselberg, can you spell "lobbyist" ? Can you spell "Congressman" ?
Hmm, I think I'll send in a few seals to see how that works. OK, not so good I think I'll send 59 cruise missiles at some empty hangers. Not sure they got the message, Here's a Mother of all bombs. This is fun, I'm gonna try out some more. I forget which one is the sarcasm emoticon?
Hey, the man's on a roll. Besides, it's a hell of a compliment to have a US President listen to my ideas. I suggested the MOAB over a year ago.
The bomb was forward deployed to Afghanistan during the Obama era. The mission was "some years" in the making.
I guess it took that long before they saw the kind of target that they wanted to use it against.
More from RT(.com)
The 21,000-pound (9,525 kg) bomb was dropped in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has confirmed the use of MOAB, and is currently assessing [the impacts on the target area]. General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, signed off on its use... Nicholson gave a "heads up" on it to General Joseph Votel, the commander of the U.S. Central Command or CENTCOM.
The Air Force developed the MOAB in 2003, but it had never been used in combat until 7pm local time on Thursday. The Pentagon produced 15 MOABs at a cost of $16 million per unit, according to the military information website "Deagel".
<SNIP>
The MOAB was designed to target large below-ground areas. It would have “felt like a nuclear weapon to anyone near the area," Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona (ret.) told CNN.
Ya know guys, I could be wrong, but Im not feeling a lot of sympathy for the taliwackers from this group. Libs must be off protesting unfair crayon prices or something.
I haven't staked myself to any particular idea or opinion about the unit cost of the MOABs or the overall cost of the program that produced them. I posted some of what was published in RT, but by explicitly providing my link to RT, I also embraced Transparency. If the monetization of MOAB functionality is important to any of us, then the discussion can now take into account Mr Otton's observation that the statements in RT about the budgetary outlays that were required to make MOAB a current reality are suspect, and must be evaluated in light of the contradictory reporting on this point from the Daily Caller.
Incidentally, I was not unaware that various spokespersons for the FBI, CIA and DNI have described RT as an agenda-driven media outlet that curates an international space for news reportage that caters to the interests of the Russian Federation--interests that are currently defined under the authority of Vladimir Putin.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 04-14-2017).]
...Because they cant. They cant have anything appear better than they are.
Dratts, they were not empty hangers. Have you seen any pics or videos ? There USED to be planes in them, you can see whats left of them. They also wrecked maintenance facilities and fuel storage. That was the intent. Mission accomplished. At least 14 of Syrias 40 SU-22 ground attack fighter/bombers were destroyed. Other 6 were unidentifiable from being blown to pieces. Its also known than a lot of their inventory of planes are not serviceable, and they dont have enough pilots trained to fly 1/2 of them.
Doesnt do you much good to have 40 planes if 18 are broke down and you only have 10 pilots to fly them (my figures based on nothing)
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 04-14-2017).]
--> Just before President Trump's first day in office.
Even that wasn't the last major air strike against Islamic militants under the Obama administration. That was followed by another airstrike against Islamic militants in Syria that was also reported as something "special". I remember reading about it. I would have to go searching to try to find it again.
According to reports that I just saw, yesterday's MOAB strike in Afghanistan killed about 36 from the "ISIL-K" or "ISIS-K" group that was targeted.
There are now U.S. personnel on the ground in the target area, as part of the MOAB bomb damage assessment team. ~ MSNBC.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 04-14-2017).]
Beats the heck out of the old way.......sending a guy down a rathole to flush them out, armed with just a flashlight, sidearm and a fighting knife........
I haven't staked myself to any particular idea or opinion about the unit cost of the MOABs or the overall cost of the program that produced them. I posted some of what was published in RT, but by explicitly providing my link to RT, I also embraced Transparency. If the monetization of MOAB functionality is important to any of us, then the discussion can now take into account Mr Otton's observation that the statements in RT about the budgetary outlays that were required to make MOAB a current reality are suspect, and must be evaluated in light of the contradictory reporting on this point from the Daily Caller.
Incidentally, I was not unaware that various spokespersons for the FBI, CIA and DNI have described RT as an agenda-driven media outlet that curates an international space for news reportage that caters to the interests of the Russian Federation--interests that are currently defined under the authority of Vladimir Putin.
Errrrrr, you should have stopped with "good to know". The rest is verbal origami.
Oh and BTW.............My name is Raymond Otton. Now you can call me Ray, or you can call me RO, or you can call me RayRay, or you can call me Ray O, or you can call me Rotten Otton but you doesn't hasta call me Mr. Otton.
Hmm, I think I'll send in a few seals to see how that works. OK, not so good I think I'll send 59 cruise missiles at some empty hangers. Not sure they got the message, Here's a Mother of all bombs. This is fun, I'm gonna try out some more. I forget which one is the sarcasm emoticon?
I have to admit on further appraisal that this was a good use of the weapon. Those hangers did look empty to me and there was a warning before the attack so I'm not sure. Remember the time we sent a bunch of cruise missiles into (Somalia)? at some tents in the desert? Sometimes we spend a $million to take out a $500 target. Brilliant!
I have to admit on further appraisal that this was a good use of the weapon. Those hangers did look empty to me and there was a warning before the attack so I'm not sure. Remember the time we sent a bunch of cruise missiles into (Somalia)? at some tents in the desert? Sometimes we spend a $million to take out a $500 target. Brilliant!
Civilians and the media often tend to express a target's 'value' in $$$$. Field commanders have to express it in lives risked and lost. Lots easier to write a request for expensive weapons replacement than to write that next of kin letter.
I have to admit on further appraisal that this was a good use of the weapon. Those hangers did look empty to me and there was a warning before the attack so I'm not sure. Remember the time we sent a bunch of cruise missiles into (Somalia)? at some tents in the desert? Sometimes we spend a $million to take out a $500 target. Brilliant!
Thats the liberal input at work. They want to reform those who would kill us so they can all hug, swap spit, and sing kum-bye-****ing-ya.
Libs must be off protesting unfair crayon prices or something.
