And then there was one. How could the IDF destroy Iran's nuclear research bunker?

[Admiral Beez]

With Israel quickly working through its dance card of baddies, the next one is likely Iran. If not a decapitation strike (Is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Next?), how about Iran's new Natanz nuclear weapons research/development site.

To destroy this target the IDF would need something equal to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), as well as an aircraft capable of lifting it.

There's no combat aircraft in the Israeli air force that can lift this 30,000 lb bomb. Could it be launched out the backside of a IDF C-130, like the smaller 15,000 lb BLU-82? I'm not sure the slow, and lower altitude C-130 would get through Iranian air space - though I expect the IDF would put up the mother of all ECM, SAM suppression and fighter escorts.

Israel needs the B-52 and MOP in order to deter Iran - opinion

Knowing Israel can destroy their nuclear sites will deter Iran from trying to produce a nuclear weapon.

www.jpost.com

This what they really need. But assuming Buffs are off the table, how can Israel wreck the bunker?

 

[cvairwerks]

A series of GBU-28 hits...

 

[Sabrejet]

Just what we need...not.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Just what we need...not.

Merits or otherwise aside, the question is how could it be done.

 

[SaparotRob]

I'm sure they've been cogitating on this for a while. They came up with the masterful plan of getting their opponents to give up cell phones for Mossad brand pagers. Talk about reaching out and touching someone.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

A series of GBU-28 hits...

Yup -- keep chipping away until one gets through.

 

[Denniss]

the same way they sunk the Yamato and killed the Hisbollah leader - hit the same spot over and over again for deep penetrations

 

[Admiral Beez]

the same way they sunk the Yamato - hit the same spot over and over again for deep penetrations

Yamato suffered from multiple hits across her entire structure. That's not going to cut it when the target is an hundred meters or more below rock.

 

[GreenKnight121]

With Israel quickly working through its dance card of baddies, the next one is likely Iran. If not a decapitation strike (Is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Next?), how about Iran's new Natanz nuclear weapons research/development site.

To destroy this target the IDF would need something equal to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), as well as an aircraft capable of lifting it.

View attachment 801615

There's no combat aircraft in the Israeli air force that can lift this 30,000 lb bomb. Could it be launched out the backside of a IDF C-130, like the smaller 15,000 lb BLU-82? I'm not sure the slow, and lower altitude C-130 would get through Iranian air space - though I expect the IDF would put up the mother of all ECM, SAM suppression and fighter escorts.

Israel needs the B-52 and MOP in order to deter Iran - opinion

Knowing Israel can destroy their nuclear sites will deter Iran from trying to produce a nuclear weapon.

www.jpost.com

View attachment 801616

This what they really need. But assuming Buffs are off the table, how can Israel wreck the bunker?

Discussions on the US B-2 strike in Yemen on another site brought up that the B-52's bomb bays are incorrectly-sized for the GBU-57/B.

So only a B-2 is currently available for a GBU-57 strike (payload of 2 bombs) (the B-21 will also be cleared for carriage of one GBU-57)..

However, a series of smaller deep-penetrating bombs can be planned to hit in series - each bomb entering the hole made by its predecessor, thus "tunneling" much deeper than a single one can penetrate - and those 5,000lb bombs CAN be carried by aircraft such as the F-15E.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yamato suffered from multiple hits across her entire structure. That's not going to cut it when the target is an hundred meters or more below rock.

But -- after their experience with Musashi in Sibuyan Sea, the American carrier aviators, and particularly the VT flyers, realized that the "hammer-and-anvil" only settled these ginormous ships slowly. When operation Ten-Go came about, VT strikes were aimed at one side of Yamato. I think two of the eleven fish were laid against the off-side, but the vast majority were aimed at one side to capsize the ship which in fact occurred.

It's not the same, of course, as drilling into the same hole, but it's similar in concept.

 

[Denniss]

Yamato torp strikes were ordered to aim at the port side forward setion of the ship instead of hitting all over both sides like with Musashi. The bomb hits were intended to kill off the flak guns, they were not intended to sink the ships

 

[GreenKnight121]

Remember... bombs start fires, re-arrange metal, and let in air.
Torpedoes let in water.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Remember... bombs start fires, re-arrange metal, and let in air.
Torpedoes let in water.

A single bomb punctured Tirpitz bottom, causing her to sink. Bombs can sink ships, just big bombs.