Why do you think 1 bomb?
I have seen the idea is to “drill” down with several bombs.
One deep penetrator blows a big hole in the ground. The next goes in that same hole. Rinse and repeat till you are done. With precision guidance it’s doable.
How do we know it was a single bomb? If I was taking out a nuclear site, I’d double tap.
I think this is an inevitable consequence of the US bombing. We have so much critical infrastructure, way too much to defend against destructive attacks, like electric transmission lines, aqueducts, oil and gas pipelines, and so forth. Iran’s power structure simply cannot let the bombing of their nuclear facilities go unavenged.
OK, now there’s this:
OK, then change that statement to “Can they do it with n bombs, where n is the number used in this attack?”. I don’t think we’ve actually tested the effects of repeated strikes on the same target, and we also don’t know for sure how deep the facility is. And there’s a difference between “We hit the target and believe that it was probably destroyed” and “we’ve confirmed that the target is actually destroyed”. The latter probably requires either inside intelligence, or boots on the ground.
I presume they have the capability given unlimited time. I doubt that it’s easy, and I doubt that they could verify success this quickly. It still may have been successful, I just doubt that they know for sure this soon.
Yeah, but terrorism is what you do when you don’t have the military to respond with force of arms. I’m not going to compare to Al Qaeda, because o don’t know nearly enough to do that. But there lots that the underdog without missile launchers can do to cause problems. I’m not a happy puppy.
You may well be correct about this but I sure would. Enemies know we have the bomb that digs underground so, naturally, they will build even deeper. It makes sense for the US to practice how to get down there too. But, maybe they have not practiced that. Those bombs ain’t cheap (as if that would stop them).
Also, there is “destroyed” and put out of action. I can easily believe they wrecked the place and made it inoperable without actually annihilating it.
Fixing the place would take years.
What happens to the debris from the first bomb? Of course it will fall back into the crater with only a small amount of it dispersed around the area and leave a pile of rubble more difficult to remove with more bombs.
Most will be blown out of the crater. Whatever falls back in is now loose soil. Not hard, compacted stuff. The next bomb would go right through with little trouble I’d think.
Sure, but the idea that somehow terrorists without a massive and powerful state sponsor are something we should fear more than the current situation, of a well integrated network of terrorists backed by a sophisticated and powerful Iran, is baffling to me.
We should know soon. The US has entered the room.
The United States bombed multiple nuclear sites in Iran, President Donald Trump announced in a social media post on Saturday. The airstrikes are the first time the United States has conducted a direct military attack on Iran, and they further escalated a military conflict between Iran and Israel that began on June 13.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a social media post at 7:50 p.m. ET. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
On a goddam tweet, of course, not a televised address to the nation.
TV is coming:
Not to be confused with the BBC confining Frodo to Mordor.
Read through this thread on Breaching the Aswan Dam. Bombs are not an effective means of excavation even to much lesser depths.
If anyone wants a really scary thought, consider the possibility that it was a “success” (if indeed it was) because Trump ordered the use of tactical nukes.
Some clarifications:
B-2s that were in Diego Garcia were withdrawn over a month ago.
Current flight of B-2s from the US did the bombing.
They, the bombers, go in with a full package of jamming aircraft. Same as in Serbia and Yemen. The unescorted deep penetration mission is only if the BIG ONE is going down. Not risking these aircraft to a lucky shot from a 2nd tier air defense.
Nothing in that thread mentions the GBU-57A/B MOP - Wikipedia
A bomb made to dig down deep. And excavation is not really what it wants to do. It just needs to get deep enough to wreck something buried. It need not even hit it directly. It is so big shock-waves can do the work.
Apparently dropped from 50,000 feet.