What You Need to Know About the 30,000-lb. Bomb | Political News

Note: the above picture is an instance of a bunker-busting bomb being examined; it’s not the precise model mentioned in this story.

We’ve reported on the one website that Israel (or the U.S.) wants to take out to actually crush Iran’s goals of buying a nuclear weapon. It’s known as Fordo (generally spelled Fordow), and it is buried deep in a mountain and reportedly comprises a number of centrifuges and a growing stockpile of uranium.

But how precisely would one destroy such a goal, short of sending in an assault crew on a high-risk, low odds mission? Many consultants agree that the United States has the only weapon that may do it: the huge GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb. It weighs in at a cool 15 tons and is designed to penetrate down into the rock before letting unfastened its actual destruction:

“Bunker buster” is a broad time period used to describe bombs that are designed to penetrate deep below the floor before exploding. In this case, it refers to the newest GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in the American arsenal. The roughly 30,000 pound (13,600 kilogram) precision-guided bomb is designed to assault deeply buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels, according to the U.S. Air Force.

1️⃣ Sensor detects goal
2️⃣ Precursor charge detonates to fragment influence floor
3️⃣ Follow-through bomb separates from missile and penetrates goal
4️⃣ Bomb with delayed fuse detonates inside goal

Read more ⬇️https://t.co/XVOehCAFUC

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 13, 2025

Related: The One Crucial Site Israel Still Needs to Take Out to Stop Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program

Trump Sends Warning to Iran Supreme Leader: Knows Exact Location, Demands ‘Unconditional Surrender’

Fordo isn’t the only nuclear website Israel would love to see disappear; there’s also Isfahan and Natanz. However those two amenities don’t create fairly the similar points as Fordo:

[Fordow] is by far the hardest goal – an enrichment facility dug into a mountain, beneath lots of of toes of rock and earth, where centrifuges are already producing uranium at 60 per cent purity, barely a hair’s breadth from weapons grade.

Conventional knowledge holds that only the heaviest bunker-busting bombs of the US Air Force may destroy Fordow, while Israel’s weapons would only trigger superficial injury.

No American bomb since the B-29 period has carried this a lot weight – actually and politically – than the 30,000 lb GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). Delivered by a B-2 stealth bomber, it is touted as the ONLY bomb succesful of punching through lots of of toes of concrete… pic.twitter.com/H5u6VL8te2

— Air Power (@ActualAirPower1) June 17, 2025

Delivered by a B-2 stealth bomber, it is touted as the ONLY bomb succesful of punching through lots of of toes of concrete and rock to take out hardened Iranian nuclear websites. Only a MOP can mop Fordo off the map.

Here is a completely different bunker-buster present process testing; you possibly can see it’s a highly effective weapon:

A BLU-109 “Bunker Buster” present process testing. The 25mm thick metal casing permits the bomb to penetrate 4-6 ft of bolstered concrete! As you possibly can see, the BLU-109 goes through concrete like a sizzling knife through butter. Incredible weapon. #avgeeks #aviation #aviationdaily #USAF pic.twitter.com/EeZGSemZgh

— Air Power (@ActualAirPower1) April 29, 2023

Trump has taken on a more threatening tone toward Iran in current days as the Islamic Republic continues its nightly missile assaults on Israel, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced that we’re growing our army belongings in the area due to the battle. However, it’s unknown whether or not the president would risk getting the U.S. dragged into a protracted struggle by dropping such a gargantuan bomb.

The different aspect of that coin, however, is that the world will surely be a far happier place if Fordo have been blasted to smithereens. 

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s management, the warrior ethos is coming back to America’s army.

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