US drops MOAB bomb in Afghanistan

[Homerboy]

seems going after ISIS tunnels.
BOOM!


http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/afghanistan-isis-moab-bomb/index.html

Washington (CNN)The US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission.

A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, the sources said.
The MOAB is also known as the "mother of all bombs." A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb.
The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the military sources.
They said the target was ISIS tunnels and personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
The military is currently assessing the damage. Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the use of the bomb, according to the sources.
This is the first time a MOAB has been used in the battlefield, according to the US officials. This munition was developed during the Iraq War.

 

[Smoblikat]

Strange, I always thought MOAB really meant Mother of All Bombs.............im going to stick with this definition, I didnt know it had an actual technical name

 

[zinfamous]

Oh, I think Trump's big bomb is a preemptive strike to drown out this potentially devastating bigger boom boom:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia

One source suggested the official investigation was making progress. “They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion,” the source said. “This is between people in the Trump campaign and agents of [Russian] influence relating to the use of hacked material.”

 

[Balt]

big bada boom

 

[vi edit]

bigly bada boom

Ftfy

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Is it wrong that I hope they have video of it? Saw the testing on it. Want to see it in use.

 

[Thebobo]

26.676836 -80.036688

 

[Thebobo]

Oh, I think Trump's big bomb is a preemptive strike to drown out this potentially devastating bigger boom boom:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia

Yep it's all diversion

 

[vi edit]

I was thinking he was doing this as a show for North Korea (and a live test of how it does on tunnels). Be ready if a tweet goes out this weekend "Hey Kim Jong... I'm ordering chocolate cake".

 

[Kaido]

"Mother of all Bombs" ?

 

[zinfamous]

Is it wrong that I hope they have video of it? Saw the testing on it. Want to see it in use.

they will absolutely have video of it.

 

[theeedude]

How much did it cost us while Republicans are cutting spending on women's health?

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

How much did it cost us while Republicans are cutting spending on women's health?

The cost cuts were actually done to cover the golfing/vacation trips. The munitions costs are covered elsewhere.

 

[Thebobo]

Seriously wonder how many civilians that killed?

 

[Kaido]

 

[xaeniac]

Seriously wonder how many civilians that killed?

Civilians that are terrorists that live in ISIS tunnels?

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Impressive, those are no-shit munitions. Probably straddle the line for tactical nukes of extremely small size.

 

[Thebobo]

Civilians that are terrorists that live in ISIS tunnels?

Oh please, it's just another diversion.

 

[Jaskalas]

Seriously wonder how many civilians that killed?

This is an area where our special forces became overwhelmed by sheer numbers of combatants. Unless it was heavily residential I'd say the bomb was called for. I mean, I'm picturing caves in mountains... not city streets. Not that we know the exact location struck.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Seriously wonder how many civilians that killed?

If it was a tunnel complex in the mountains, which is what the GBU-43 was designed for, I'm going to guess not many.

 

[alien42]

Civilians that are terrorists that live in ISIS tunnels?

it's a reasonable question, with a blast radius of a mile, there could be a local herder or some civilians affected. odds are this will be an overall successful drop though.

 

[pauldun170]

Fortunately, operation Enduring Freedom was a resounding success, major operations have been declared done with and we pulled out in 2014 just leaving 2 guys (give or take 8000) there to take turns entering the code into that machine.

It's nice to see that they still care enough to occasionally keep folks entertained by say we blew up something to protect freedom and things.
16 years playing whack-a-mole and people don't understand why new groups keep popping up hating all the freedomizing.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Fortunately, operation Enduring Freedom was a resounding success, major operations have been declared done with and we pulled out in 2014 just leaving 2 guys (give or take 8000) there to take turns entering the code into that machine.

It's nice to see that they still care enough to occasionally keep folks entertained by say we blew up something to protect freedom and things.
16 years playing whack-a-mole and people don't understand why new groups keep popping up hating all the freedomizing.

Just remember, we're not at war and there are no boots on the ground.

 

[K1052]

Nothing wrong with Afghanistan that a few more bombs won't fix. Any year now.

 

[pauldun170]

Just remember, we're not at war and there are no boots on the ground.

Your right.
They don't wear boots.
They prefer hiking shoes.