Energy of a GBU-57 MOP

[toobfreak]

I ran some figures and came up with some interesting data based on a few estimates and assumptions because there is no official, published figures on this that I could find.

When our B-2s dropped those ground penetrating bunker busters at Fordow,

• About how much did each weigh? About 30,000 pounds. That part is officially published.

• About how fast was it moving when it hit the ground? Somewhere around 900 to 1000 mph, best I can estimate.

• About how much kinetic energy was released by the impact, not including any explosive detonations just on the force of the impact alone?
  • Around 1,200,000,000 joules. Can't wrap your head around that? Let me convert--- that is equal to:
  • About 1/3 ton of TNT.
  • About 898,900,000 foot-pounds of torque (think of tightening a lug nut).
  • About 290,000 calories (an average person burns 1,000 calories a day).
  • About 1,100,000 BTUs (a mid-sized home's furnace generates about 20,000 BTU warming a house).
  • Equal to about the energy contained in your average lightning bolt.

Mind you, all that energy is concentrated in an area hardly two feet wide, and that is just the energy of the impact used to punch down about 200 feet through reinforced concrete, rock, steel and dirt. Then the real explosion happens.

Fordow was hit with that twelve times.

 

[meaner gene]

I ran some figures and came up with some interesting data based on a few estimates and assumptions because there is no official, published figures on this that I could find.

When our B-2s dropped those ground penetrating bunker busters at Fordow,

• About how much did each weigh? About 30,000 pounds. That part is officially published.

• About how fast was it moving when it hit the ground? Somewhere around 900 to 1000 mph, best I can estimate.

• About how much kinetic energy was released by the impact, not including any explosive detonations just on the force of the impact alone?
  • Around 1,200,000,000 joules. Can't wrap your head around that? Let me convert--- that is equal to:
  • About 1/3 ton of TNT.
  • About 898,900,000 foot-pounds of torque (think of tightening a lug nut).
  • About 290,000 calories (an average person burns 1,000 calories a day).
  • About 1,100,000 BTUs (a mid-sized home's furnace generates about 20,000 BTU warming a house).
  • Equal to about the energy contained in your average lightning bolt.

Mind you, all that energy is concentrated in an area hardly two feet wide, and that is just the energy of the impact used to punch down about 200 feet through reinforced concrete, rock, steel and dirt. Then the real explosion happens.

Fordow was hit with that twelve times.

GBU-57A/B MOP - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Penetration: (debated) There is debate about the penetration capabilities of the bomb. The US Air Force has said that the GBU-57 can penetrate up to 200 ft (60 m) of unspecified material before exploding.[41] The BBC reports that analysts at Janes Information Services say the weapon can penetrate about 200 ft (60 m) of earth or 60 ft (18 m) of concrete.[32] A separate source suggests penetration of up to 60 ft (18 m) into reinforced concrete with a compressive strength of 5,000 psi (34 MPa) and 8 ft (2.4 m) into 10,000 psi (69 MPa) reinforced concrete.[16]
The MOP does not have a void-sensing fuze and detonates only after it comes to a stop, even if it has passed the target area.[42]

There is no way of assessing the success or failure of the weapon from aerial photographs.

 

[toobfreak]

Penetration: (debated) There is debate about the penetration capabilities of the bomb. The US Air Force has said that the GBU-57 can penetrate up to 200 ft (60 m) of unspecified material before exploding.

There is no debate. The Army tests the begeesus out of these bombs on actual hardened bunkers simulating anything the enemy could throw at us. The 57 was DESIGNED to kill the deepest most hardened targets and proven effective. Experts now estimate that Iran's uranium enrichment program may never recover, but if they try, it will take years of clean up and reconstruction.

Also, the explosion depth is set by the people who drop the bomb to match the needs of their target.

The BBC reports that analysts at Janes Information Services say the weapon can penetrate about 200 ft (60 m) of earth or 60 ft (18 m) of concrete.[32] A separate source suggests penetration of up to 60 ft (18 m) into reinforced concrete with a compressive strength of 5,000 psi (34 MPa) and 8 ft (2.4 m) into 10,000 psi (69 MPa) reinforced concrete.

The BBC does not have any GBU-57s to test to verify any of this with while our army has tested the bomb on all manner of target.

The MOP does not have a void-sensing fuze and detonates only after it comes to a stop, even if it has passed the target area.

That isn't correct. The 57 has a 5000 pound warhead that detonates on impact to help clear the way then the main explosion goes off at the predetermined point after penetration to destroy the target deep within. And we dropped six 57s at each ventilation port: the first to destroy the concrete cover over the ventilation, then 5 more to destroy the facility. That is ten GBUs at a facility about 200-300 feet deep.

Even if the first GBU did not penetrate at all, the other GBUs only needed to penetrate 60 feet each in order to reach the enrichment facility.

And what facility wasn't destroyed in the immediate direct explosion, was destroyed and heavily damaged by the shock, vibration, and air blast of the explosions traveling out through the ventilation system, hallways and tunnels.

 

[meaner gene]

There is no debate. The Army tests the begeesus out of these bombs on actual hardened bunkers simulating anything the enemy could throw at us. The 57 was DESIGNED to kill the deepest most hardened targets and proven effective. Experts now estimate that Iran's uranium enrichment program may never recover, but if they try, it will take years of clean up and reconstruction.

Also, the explosion depth is set by the people who drop the bomb to match the needs of their target.


The BBC does not have any GBU-57s to test to verify any of this with while our army has tested the bomb on all manner of target.


That isn't correct. The 57 has a 5000 pound warhead that detonates on impact to help clear the way then the main explosion goes off at the predetermined point after penetration to destroy the target deep within. And we dropped six 57s at each ventilation port: the first to destroy the concrete cover over the ventilation, then 5 more to destroy the facility. That is ten GBUs at a facility about 200-300 feet deep.

Even if the first GBU did not penetrate at all, the other GBUs only needed to penetrate 60 feet each in order to reach the enrichment facility.

And what facility wasn't destroyed in the immediate direct explosion, was destroyed and heavily damaged by the shock, vibration, and air blast of the explosions traveling out through the ventilation system, hallways and tunnels.

According to statements by Iranian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, including Fordow, no radioactive fallout or significant increases in radiation levels outside the targeted sites have been detected.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) stated that their field surveys and radiation detection systems recorded no contamination, according to Al Jazeera. Similarly, the IAEA confirmed that no increase in off-site radiation levels was reported. The Saudi Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Commission (NRRC) also reported no detection of radioactive fallout in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf region.

 

[toobfreak]

According to statements by Iranian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, including Fordow, no radioactive fallout or significant increases in radiation levels outside the targeted sites have been detected.

Why would there be? And who wants that anyway? The centrifuges were damaged not destroyed, and buried deep inside the mountain. Those centrifuges are very precision, delicate instruments and it doesn't take much to ruin them. Keep in mind that their sole job is to spin uranium so that the one isotope slightly heavier than the other by a few electrons settles to the surface where they can be collected. And why would you rely in anything the Iranians tell you? Besides, the Iranians have already admitted that the place is fairly destroyed.

 

[MarathonMike]

According to statements by Iranian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, including Fordow, no radioactive fallout or significant increases in radiation levels outside the targeted sites have been detected.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) stated that their field surveys and radiation detection systems recorded no contamination, according to Al Jazeera. Similarly, the IAEA confirmed that no increase in off-site radiation levels was reported. The Saudi Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Commission (NRRC) also reported no detection of radioactive fallout in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf region.

Imagine that. Millions of tons of rock and dirt collapsed on the centrifuges and there was no significant radiation levels at the surface. Huh.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

According to statements by Iranian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, including Fordow, no radioactive fallout or significant increases in radiation levels outside the targeted sites have been detected.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) stated that their field surveys and radiation detection systems recorded no contamination, according to Al Jazeera. Similarly, the IAEA confirmed that no increase in off-site radiation levels was reported. The Saudi Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Commission (NRRC) also reported no detection of radioactive fallout in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf region.

Why would there be fallout if there was no nuclear explosion?

 

[toobfreak]

Imagine that. Millions of tons of rock and dirt collapsed on the centrifuges and there was no significant radiation levels at the surface. Huh.

Exactly. The Iranians wouldn't have put the centrifuges at the top of the facility, so likely, the top half of the facility is destroyed by the bombs, the air blast (up to 1000 mph I estimate) destroyed everything else as the explosive force had nowhere to go, contained until hundreds of feet of steel, concret and rock, with nowhere for the force to vent out except maybe the entrance tunnels, and all of the access tunnels are filled with rubble and the upper part collapsed down onto the bottom half sealing it all inside the mountain.

It may take months or a year just to gain access into the place again. From what I can tell from aerial shots, the mountain has sunk between 20-30 feet (maybe 50 feet?) in the area where the bombs hit.