Latest news with #MOP
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Operation Midnight Hammer: 'Bunker-busters' not used on Iran's Isfahan nuclear site, top US general tells senators; cites target depth
The United States military did not use the "bunker-buster" bombs on Iran's Isfahan nuclear facility during last week's Operation Midnight Hammer, chairman joint chiefs of staff, General Dan Caine, told senators during a classified briefing. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The facility is so deep that the bomb - actual name Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) - likely would have not been effective, the general informed senators on Thursday, CNN . US officials believe that Isfahan's underground structures contain nearly 60 per cent of the Islamic Republic's enriched nuclear stockpile, which Tehran would need in order to ever produce nukes. Only Tomahawk missiles were used to strike Isfahan. On the other hand, the B-2 Spirit bombers dropped more than a dozen bunker-busters on the other two targets - Fordow and Natanz. The classified session was held by Caine, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and John Ratcliffe, director, CIA. During the briefing, Ratcliffe said that the US intelligence community assesses that the majority of Iran's enriched nuclear material is buried at Isfahan and Fordow, according to an official. Following the strikes, a preliminary assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency the attack did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear programme, including its enriched uranium, and likely only set it back by months. The assessment was disputed by members of the Donald Trump administration. President Trump has repeatedly asserted that Iran's nuclear programme was "obliterated."
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First Post
9 hours ago
- Science
- First Post
Latest satellite images confirm Iran now expanding its Fordow site after US bombings
Signs of 'fresh earth movement,' including new access roads and clusters of crater zones are visible at the Fordow site read more Latest satellite images show Iran might be working to expand the Fordow nuclear facility days after the site was targeted by US B-2 stealth bombers. Images released by Maxar Technologies reveal that heavy machinery has been moved into the site, and signs of additional earthwork are visible. There are signs that tunnel entrances may have been deliberately sealed off before the US bombers dropped Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) on the underground site. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Fordow was among the three nuclear sites that US bombers targeted overnight on June 21–22 under Operation Midnight Hammer. Now, signs of 'fresh earth movement,' including new access roads and clusters of crater zones are visible at the Fordow site. Significance The US administration has claimed that the bombings ' obliterated ' the underground facility at Fordow; however, satellite images indicate Iran may have already moved enriched uranium 'to a safe location'. An analysis by the Open Source Centre in London also suggested that visuals show that Iran may have been preparing the site for a strike. However, it is unclear exactly what, if anything, was removed from the facility. What do the new images reveal? In recent imagery, earth-moving equipment is visible near the northern tunnel complex. Bulldozers are shifting soil around a ridgeline crater, with new access paths evident. Imagery from June 19-20 showed several bulldozers and trucks near the tunnel entrance, likely part of an effort to block or reinforce access points. In the new images, the entrances appear filled with dirt, and debris from MOP impacts is noticeable in several areas. Can Iran still build a nuclear bomb? With the high probability that Iran has moved its stockpile of enriched uranium elsewhere, there are chances that the nation could build a nuclear weapon. However, Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst, told The Telegraph that even if Iran had moved its uranium, it would be 'like having fuel without a car', adding: 'They have the uranium, but they can't do a lot with it unless they have built something we don't know about on a small scale.'
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First Post
a day ago
- Politics
- First Post
Amid mystery over uranium, expert tells how Iran could've moved it out of nuclear sites
Amid mystery about the location of Iran's uranium stockpile and reports it could have been moved out before US strikes, an expert has explained how Iran could have moved it out of the nuclear sites struck by the United States. Read to know how uranium could have been moved and what we know of its status. read more A satellite image shows damage to the tunnel entrances of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Research Centre, following US airstrikes amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Isfahan, Iran. Maxar Technologies/Reuters While there is no clarity about the whereabouts of Iran's highly enriched uranium, an expert has explained how Iran could have moved it out of nuclear sites attacked by the United States last week. Iran was understood to have stored 60 per cent highly-enriched uranium at Isfahan and Fordow nuclear sites that the United States struck last month. The Fordow site was struck with GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) 'bunker buster' bombs and Isfahan was hit with submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While the Donald Trump administration has maintained that US strikes obliterated these sites, independent analysts have said that the US strikes imposed significant but not irreversible damage. There are also signs that the uranium stockpile to the tune of 440 kilograms was not destroyed. Even though the relocation of radioactive highly enriched uranium appears difficult, it is quite simple as such uranium is in gas form of uranium hexafluoride and can be transported in cylinders in trucks, Daryl G Kimball, the Director of Arms Control Association, told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin. Satellite imagery has shown several trucks lined up at the Fordow nuclear site in the days leading to US strikes. Observers have said that those trucks could have been used to transport uranium out of the site before the US strikes. Such an assessment is backed by the fact that no radioactive contamination was detected after strikes at Fordow, suggesting that either the site had no uranium or US bombs did not hit any uranium there. Expert explains how Iran could've moved uranium Kimball said that highly enriched uranium in gaseous form is highly mobile and can be transported in cylinders that might look like a water heater in a house or a scuba tank. As the stockpile was just 440 kgs, it could therefore be moved in 40-50 cylinders in two-three trucks. 'It doesn't require that many vehicles to move it. There's no radiation that's leaking that requires special protection. There has to be protection. So it is not that difficult to move,' Kimball told Fox Chief National Security Correspondent Griffin. Kimball agreed with analysts who have said that the Isfahan site is unlikely to have been destroyed by Tomahawk missiles. He said that the evidence suggests that Iranians indeed moved the uranium out of sites that Israel and United States struck. 'The Iranians had notified just before the Israeli military action that if attacked, they would take the uranium enriched at 60 per cent, the 440 kilograms, out of the facilities and move it somewhere else. I think we have to assume they've done that. They were planning for these strikes. It may be the case that Israeli intelligence thinks it knows where Iran took this. I'm actually doubtful, but you never know. But most likely they have moved it. And the IAEA has said they don't know where it is. JD Vance said the United States does not know where it is. So that's a problem,' said Kimball. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Does it mean US strikes failed? Not that simple Iran's relocation of uranium does not mean that US and Israeli strikes failed at not all components needed to make nuclear bombs were likely relocated. The uranium that Iran likely relocated was just 60 per cent enriched whereas it takes around 90 per cent enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Iran needs centrifuges to further enrich any uranium to weapons-grade level of 90 per cent. It's unlikely that Iran managed to save centrifuges like uranium stockpile. Kimball said, 'It is very difficult to power down, package up the centrifuge machines. So it's unlikely that Iran was able to salvage workable centrifuge machines before the strikes from Natanz and Fordow.' However, even that is not an irremovable obstacle in the way of Iran making a nuclear weapon if it decides to. 'The bottom line is that the Iranians likely have residual capabilities either in undisclosed sites and they have centrifuge workshops that can reassemble or rebuild these machines. And, if uninterrupted, eventually they can —if they want to— reconstitute a large portion of what was destroyed in these strikes. So, as I said, the strikes can set back the programme, it cannot eliminate it completely,' said Kimball. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
India.com
a day ago
- Politics
- India.com
China in panic after witnessing destruction caused by US' B-2 bombers; experts say Beijing, Xi Jinping must...
The B-2 stealth bomber is the world's most expensive warplane. (File) B-2 stealth bomber: Earlier this month, the United States decimated Iranian nuclear sites as they used the B-2 stealth bombers to drop the massive 30,000lbs (13.6 tonne) GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP), aka the bunker buster bombs, on Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow nuclear facilities, which purportedly 'completely obliterated' these locations, according to US President Donald Trump. The US' use of the B-2 stealth bomber in Iran has become a hot topic of discussion among global strategic circles, and has sparked panic among Washington's rivals, including China, who have been stunned at the destructive effectiveness of the sixth-generation bomber jet, especially its ability to fly long distances. Chinese experts in awe of B-2 stealth bomber The B-2's performance has impressed Chinese experts, who are now calling upon Beijing to develop a similar bomber jet to maintain strategic parity with the United States. According to Song Zhongping, a military analyst and former instructor in China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), nothing, not even a latest 6th-generation fighter jet, can replace strategic bomber, even in an era where long-range attack missiles exist, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. Zhongping notes that strategic bombers have the capability to carry both nuclear and conventional attack, which makes it strategic weapon that could turn the tide in favor of any army. How B-2 stealth bomber destroyed Iranian nuclear sites On June 22, the US military launched Operation Midnight Hammer, under which seven B-2 stealth bombers breached Iranian airspace and dropped its heavy GBU-57 bunker busting bombs on the country's top nuclear facilities, including Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow. The bomber took off from the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, and flew for nearly 37 hours, taking the trans-Atlantic route via the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, and entered Iran's airspace from the west or southwest. This was the the longest mission for the B-2 bomber since 2001. After bombing Iranian nuclear facilities with impunity, the B-2 stealth bomber fleet left the Iranian airspace and returned without any resistance, a feat that has stunned Chinese experts, who now believe that strategic bombers are very important for the Chinese army due to their utility in attacking anywhere in the world and establishing nuclear deterrence. What makes the B-2 stealth bomber special? The Northrop B-2 Spirit, commonly known as the B-2 stealth bomber, is a heavy strategic bomber with low-observable stealth technology designed to evade dense anti-aircraft defenses. The B-2 bomber has a special radar-absorbent coating on its body, which absorbs radar signals and prevent them bouncing off the aircraft, significantly reducing detection chances by enemy radars. This unique technology also increases the B-2's speed, and its sleek body is designed in manner that drastically reduces the plane's radar cross-section. The B-2 stealth bomber is especially designed to carry heavy bombs, including the GBU-57 bunker buster, which it reportedly dropped on Iran's underground Fordow nuclear site during Sunday's attack. The heavy bomber can also carry nuclear bombs. Additionally, the B-2 has a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, making it capable of carrying out intercontinental strikes. China is currently flight-testing two different sixth-generation aircraft, the J-36 and J-50, however, even the most advanced 6th-gen stealth fighters are no match for a strategic bomber, due its long-flight capability, and the sheer volume of explosives it can carry, as per analysts.
NDTV
a day ago
- Politics
- NDTV
US Spent 15 Years Designing Bombs To Target Iran's Fordow Nuclear Site
The American strike on Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment facility was the outcome of a covert, 15-year-long military effort to develop specialised weapons capable of reaching the deeply buried site, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Caine. The revelations, as reported by The New York Post, offer an insight into the Pentagon's long-term planning and technological development in response to the Iranian nuclear threat. Caine referred to the operation as "Operation Midnight Hammer," saying it "was the culmination of those 15 years of incredible work, the air crews, the tanker crews, the weapons crews that built the weapons, the load crews that loaded it." Fordow, located roughly half a mile inside a mountain, came to the attention of US intelligence agencies in 2009. Soon after, defence experts determined that no existing weapon in the US arsenal could effectively destroy it. Caine told The New York Post that officials, along with a Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) officer, concluded that the US lacked a weapon capable of effectively striking and neutralising the target. This sparked the classified development of the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a powerful bunker-buster bomb. Designed to neutralise hardened underground facilities such as Fordow, the MOP represents one of the most technically complex munitions ever constructed by the US. Caine described the broader scientific endeavour behind the weapon's design. He said, "Weaponeering is the science of evaluating a target... Ultimately, weaponeering is determining the right weapon and fuse combination to achieve the desired effects and maximum destruction against a target." He explained how the DTRA team analysed Fordow's structure to identify which elements would need to be destroyed to neutralise its function. The scale of effort behind the project was immense. "We had so many PhDs working on the MOP programme doing modelling and simulation that we were - quietly and in a secret way - the biggest users of supercomputer hours within the United States of America," Caine said. The Pentagon, in partnership with private industry and tactical experts, spent years refining the weapon. The GBU-57, exclusively deliverable by B-2 stealth bombers, stands as the most powerful bomb in the US military's inventory. Built with a steel casing, high explosives and a programmable fuse, each unit is tailored to produce a specific impact within its intended target. "Each weapon had a unique desired impact, angle, arrival, final heading and a fuse setting," he added. "The fuse is effectively what tells the bomb when to function. A longer delay in a fuse, the deeper the weapon will penetrate and drive into the target." The June 21 strike on Fordow was designed with extraordinary precision, benefiting from over a decade of intelligence gathering and simulations. Pentagon planners focused on hitting two key ventilation shafts, which were critical to reaching the plant's core. Caine told The New York Post that Iran tried to block the ventilation shafts with concrete to stop an attack, but US planners had already prepared for this. The first bomb broke through the concrete and uncovered the main shaft. In total, four bombs penetrated the facility through the main exhaust shaft, moving "down into the complex at greater than 1000 feet per second and explode in the mission space."
