USAF Modifying B-2’s To Carry Bunker Busters

Preparations are underway at the USAF for what seems to be a head on collision with Iran. "Is Iran Busted?" from Investor’s Business Daily:

The Air Force is busy modifying its B-2 stealth bomber fleet so it can carry deep-penetrating bunker-buster bombs, according to recent reports. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, call your office.

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known as the bunker buster, is a GPS-guided weapon that carries more than 5,300 pounds of conventional explosives inside a 20.5-foot hardened steel shell. Sounds formidable. It is.

Each B-2 has the capacity to haul two bunker-busters across long distances. Developer Northrop Grumman says the 21 delta-wing B-2s it built can fly 6,000 nautical miles without being refueled. A single aerial refueling allows it fly more than 10,000 nautical miles. As such, the B-2 can reach any point on the globe within a few hours.

"Any point" includes, of course, Iran, where the Islamist regime continues to develop nuclear weapons technology despite international pressure that it back down. Most likely, much of the work is being done underground in heavily fortified facilities.

The Natanz facility, where Tehran is enriching uranium and could produce weapons-grade material, is thought to be protected by several yards of concrete and as much 75 feet of dirt. Well protected, yes, but not out of the lethal reach of bunker busters.