MOP....Massive Ordinance Penetrator

[Dr Mordrid]

First there was the 11,000 lb Daisy Cutter. Originally designed to blast out helicopter landing pads it later was used against land formations.

Next came the 21,000 lb MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs). Designed for use against larger land formations. Not unlike a small tactical nuke in effect, but using conventional explosives.

Now comes MOP (Massive Ordinance Penetrator), a guided penetrating bomb, in development for use against hardened underground facilities. How big is MOP? Some articles say 30,000+ lbs and most say 40,000 lbs. The concensus leans towards 40,000 lbs.

Delivery will require B-52's. Boeing got the USAF contract.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jon P. Inghram]

I've got a feeling 500 years from now there'll be B-52's flying around with warp drives instead of jet engines or something.

[The Rock]

SWEET JESUS thats a big bomb!! Kinda scares me to think what will happen when the USA runs out of people to blow up. I wonder if all those bomb-building brains could actually be put to better use. I bet those guys could make a helluva firecracker.

[Helevitia]

MOP! Master of Puppets one of the best Albums ever!

OK, back on track. Damn that is a huge ass bomb!

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by Jon P. Inghram
I've got a feeling 500 years from now there'll be B-52's flying around with warp drives instead of jet engines or something.

ROFL!!

I think you're probably correct. Those d**ned things were certainly built to last, that's for sure.

Another one that's still around, albeit in modded fashion, is the B-29. You know those Super Guppy planes they use to carry around rocket boosters, space station modules etc.?

Yup....they're modded members of the B-29 family. The B-29 had a cargo version with a pressurized fuselage called the KC-97 that was further modded into the Stratocruiser airliner.

These two models are what were modded into the smaller Pregnant Guppy and the huge Super Guppy. Another change in the SuperGuppy is that they use turboprops instead of the original radial engines.

Dr. Mordrid

[oboe]

And if you're a little less US-centric:

First there was the 5,500 kg (12,000 lb) Tall Boy.

Next came the 10,000 kg (22,000 lb) Grand Slam.

Both were carried by the Lancaster bomber and used against various hardened, underground or large structures. On one occasion they even sank the Tirpitz battleship.

[oboe]

First google link I could find:

Tall Boy and Grand Slam

[Jammrock]

Isn't that roughly the power of the nukes dropped on Japan in WW2?

Jammrock

[Fluff]

Why on earth would you need a bomb that big? Have to admit quite an impressive feat of engineering. But it's hardly a constructive use of money is it?

[oboe]

Not even close. The Grand Slam is about 5 tonnes yield and the MOAB is about 9 tonnes. I don't know what the WWII nukes were, but they were certainly in the ktonnes range.

[spadnos]

I think they were in the 20 kiloton range, but I could be wrong.

- Steve

[GT98]

Originally posted by spadnos
I think they were in the 20 kiloton range, but I could be wrong.

- Steve

The First Atomic bomb was called "little Boy" and had a yeild of 13kiloton and the "Fat man" was 20 kilos and was the second one dropped.

[GT98]

Originally posted by Fluff
Why on earth would you need a bomb that big? Have to admit quite an impressive feat of engineering. But it's hardly a constructive use of money is it?

Well there are alot of things that aren't constructive money well spent

Anyways...I think this bomb is designed so you dont need to break out the nukes to crack something

[MultimediaMan]

A low yield nuclear penetrator bomb has been developed on paper and in the simulator...less than 0.5Kt yield and about a 5000lb delivered mass.

However, the Pentagon wanted a non-nuclear option and this conceptually was the smallest weapon they could come up with with equivalent penetration and power.

[GT98]

Doc,

Was just thinking about your comment about the B-52, I doubt they'll be able to fit the thing in a B-52 since the Daisy Cutter and MOAB come out of a C-130, and are pushed out the back