US drops largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan

US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan in area populated by Isis members

The US has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in the country’s arsenal on an area of eastern Afghanistan known to be populated by Islamic State militants.

The Pentagon confirmed the strike was the first time the 21,000lb weapon had been used in combat.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Defence confirmed to The Independent that a MC-130 aircraft dropped a GBU-43 bomb at 7pm local time.

The weapon is known in the US Air Force by its nickname MOAB, or "mother of all bombs". MOAB stands for massive ordinance air blast.

A reporter at CNN, which broke the news, said the bomb was targeting Isis tunnels and fighters in the Achin district of Nangarhar.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 82996.html

According to this video, the 'MOAB' has a blast radius of 1 mile (2 miles diameter):

That to me sounds awfully like a WMD. At least they finally found one I suppose. Just sad that they found it in another country and amongst their own arsenal.

America seems to be showing off its military might quite a lot these days.

I'm sure that won't cause any form of retaliation at all...

captain red dog wrote:That to me sounds awfully like a WMD. At least they finally found one I suppose. Just sad that they found it in another country and amongst their own arsenal.

This is the problem with that tag. What is a WMD? A normal military bomb can kill tens of people, is the not a mass killing? Plus when a military carpet bombs an area they can kill hundreds if not thousands, surely that's also a WMD? It's a bit of a silly tag really that's creeped into our language. It seemed to be coined to cover nuclear and chemical weapons but fits most weapons really.

Now that's what you call a blunt instrument.

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
captain red dog wrote:That to me sounds awfully like a WMD. At least they finally found one I suppose. Just sad that they found it in another country and amongst their own arsenal.

This is the problem with that tag. What is a WMD? A normal military bomb can kill tens of people, is the not a mass killing? Plus when a military carpet bombs an area they can kill hundreds if not thousands, surely that's also a WMD? It's a bit of a silly tag really that's creeped into our language. It seemed to be coined to cover nuclear and chemical weapons but fits most weapons really.

Yep it's like chemical weapons. The US in particular seem very upset over that currently, yet they seem to have quite a history using that sort of thing.

Apparently these cost $16 million each, and the US made 20 of them:
http://www.deagel.com/Defensive-Weapons ... 78001.aspx

Frederick Davis sounds just like what's his face out of 30 Rock :lol:

Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump wrote:the bomb was dropped on a group of caves and bunkers, believed to be used by Islamic State in Afghanistan, known as 'ISIS-K'

Sounds like 100% confirmed tactical information to me.

I'm sure the US are readying Challenger 7 to bring back Elvis and that double decker bus from the moon as I write this.

Well as long as it hit what it was supposed to, I guess...

I just think it's hilarious how much tax payer money this current administration is pissing up the wall while everything else collapses. Gotta wave those willies in front of the world.

Website

Did anyone else miss the "non" when reading the thread title? I was about ready to enter the bunker.

Russia reportedly has one four times as powerful.

Great, the Narcissist-in-Chief has discovered the ability to throw his sexual inadequacy at the enemy. :fp:

I'll be interested to see what the before and after shots of the target zone are.

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:Russia reportedly has one four times as powerful.

Shhh, don't say that, you'll start an arms race.

That's an absurd amount of money. That could be used to help their people back home.

But then they wouldn't be able to conduct international genital waves.

Squinty wrote:That's an absurd amount of money. That could be used to help their people back home.

But then they wouldn't be able to conduct international genital waves.

But that would be communism and we wouldn't want that.
Why bother properly funding schools, hospitals or other public services that anyone can use (even shock horror the people who aren't rich) when you can spend it all on having the pointlessly largest military.

Peter Crisp wrote:
Squinty wrote:That's an absurd amount of money. That could be used to help their people back home.

But then they wouldn't be able to conduct international genital waves.

But that would be communism and we wouldn't want that.
Why bother properly funding schools, hospitals or other public services that anyone can use (even shock horror the people who aren't rich) when you can spend it all on having the pointlessly largest military.

Pointless?

Donny Trump wrote:Big boomboom stick go bangbang!

Apperently they killed 36 people. That doesn't seem like a lot considering the size of the bomb.

But if theyre 36 people who were hiding in caves and they couldnt get to without hundreds of ground casualties, if they could even get to them at all, then its a "win" for them. Thats definitely how it will be spun.

US drops largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan

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