In a biggest action against Islamic State (IS), the United States of America (USA) military on Thursday dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal on an IS tunnel complex in Afghanistan.
GBU-43
According to the Pentagon, the weapon was dropped from a USA aircraft in Nangarhar province. The GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), known as the mother of all bombs. The bomb was first tested in 2003, but had not been used before in direct combat. The 21,600lb (9,800kg) bomb was dropped in Achin district on Thursday evening local time, the Pentagon stated.
“The jihadist group's losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence,” said a senior USA Forces official. It follows last week's death of a US special forces soldier in Afghanistan. This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive, he said.
The MOAB is a large-yield conventional (non-nuclear) bomb, developed for the US military by Albert L. Weimorts, Jr. of the Air Force Research Laboratory. At the time of development, it was touted as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed. The bomb was designed to be delivered by a C-130 Hercules, primarily the MC-130E Combat Talon I or MC-130H Combat Talon II variants. Since then, Russia has tested its "Father of All Bombs", which is claimed to be four times as powerful as the MOAB.
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