Defense contractor Boeing stands to make even more money off its “bunker-buster” bomb, which the U.S. may be planning to use against Iran.

 

To date, Boeing has taken in about $330 million from the Department of Defense to develop 20 of the 30,000-pound bombs, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). The 20-foot long weapon packs more than 5,300 pounds of explosives. It is designed to be dropped on targets by B-2 Stealth Bombers built by Northrop Grumman.

 

But government tests have shown that the bunker-buster may not be powerful enough to destroy Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, an expensive discovery publicly acknowledged by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. One government official told The Wall Street Journal that to make up for the MOP’s deficiencies the U.S. could drop them, along with other guided bombs, on top of the facilities’ entrances and exits “provided the intelligence is available about where they are all located.”

 

However, the Pentagon is also pursuing another strategy: paying Boeing another $82 million to increase the explosive force of the ordnance.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran (by Adam Entous and Julian Barnes, Wall Street Journal)