In the last hours, Iranian nuclear sites have probably been affected by the only weapon capable of destroying them: the GBU-57 Anti-Bunker pump (guide bomb unit) also called GBU-57 MOP (mass orientation penetrator). According to Donald Trump, the airplanes have reached three of the main Iranian nuclear sites: Ispahan, Natanz and Fordo, in which a “total charge of pumps” was dropped.
Built in violation of UN resolutions, Tehran presented the underground installation of Fordo (center) as a high -price uranium enrichment factory that can accommodate some centrifugal 3,000. Israel cannot have such depth: only US planes can transport quite penetrating ammunition to do so.
The US president did not give details about the weapons used to attack the Iranian program. But given the underground configuration of Fordo, the GBU-57 type anti-bum bombs were probably removed. According to the US army, these dark circles of 13.6 tons can sink up to 60 meters deep before exploiting, according to the US army. The White House tenant said that the US army had “completely” destroyed Iranian nuclear enrichment capabilities.
“As if we dropped a mini bus”
This type of bomb was “developed (…) during World War II when there were German underwater bases along the French Atlantic coast. It was necessary BFMTVVVV.
The Israeli army already has GBU bombs but not version 57, six times heavier than the previous generation. It has also used American manufacturing pumps Anti-blu-109 Anti-Buker, especially during the elimination of Hezbollah Chief, Hassan Nasrallah, at the end of 2024. But GBU-57 is still much more powerful. This pump can be guided precisely thanks to a GPS system, but it can only be removed from B-2 and B-52 bombers of the American Air Force. It measures 6.20m by 80 cm and has an explosive load of 2.4 tons.
“It is as if we had dropped a mini bus” that “will fall vertically, guided by GPS and penetrate deeply into the basement, several tens of meters” that “will only explode when it is buried. Because the problem is that a pump only explodes when it touches the ground, which causes damage to the surface.
A gun not enough to destroy Iranian facilities
Is it enough to destroy Iranian underground nuclear facilities? Experts are cautious. First, because the exact depth of these sites is not known, certain estimates that evoke 80 to 90 meters when others speak in hundreds of meters. According to a report by the British Think Tank Royal United Services cited by CNN, GBU-57 can penetrate up to a depth of 61 meters.
“I would bet on the repeated strikes against Fordo,” the American media, the military analyst Cedric Leighton, former colonel of the American Air Force, told the American media. “Repeated strikes could work, but it is not safe,” said Peter Layton, former Royal Australian Air Force officer, now a member of the Griffith Asia Institute.
Source: BFM TV
