Illustrative image.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on April 26 that it recovered unexploded American munitions from strikes on the territories of the Islamic Republic and transferred them to technical and research units for reverse engineering — including, according to Iranian state media, a fully intact GBU-57 series Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bomb that failed to detonate.
In a statement, the guard’s Imam Sajjad Corps said that 15 munitions were found in the southern province of Hormozgan, adding that thousands of “bomblets” were also found in the northern province of Zanjan.
In addition to these munitions, a MOP bomb was reportedly recovered. Bombs of this type were used in the United States attack on Iranian underground nuclear facilities during the Israeli 12-day June war of last year.
The attack, codenamed “Operation Midnight Hammer,” saw B-2 Spirit stealth strategic bombers dropping MOP bombs on the facilities, which were also targeted with around 30 BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile which were launched from a cruise missile nuclear submarine, believed to be the Ohio-class USS Georgia.
The MOP is 6,2 meters long and weighs 14 tons. Its explosive component is a bomb of the BLU-127 series, whose modular design accommodates improvements and upgrades.
One variant of the BLU-127 bomb body contains 2,082 kg of AFX-757 and 341 kg of PBXN-114, a polymer-bonded explosive (PBX), for a total explosive payload of 2,423 kg. The PBX is optimized for controlled detonation in confined spaces.
The bomb’s casing is made from high-density Eglin steel alloy, engineered to survive the extreme stresses of deep penetration before detonation.
Attached to the BLU-127’s tail, is a KMU-612 tail-kit which contains a GPS-aided inertial navigation system guidance package, as well as control surfaces to maintain trajectory and allow for mid-course adjustments.
The GBU-57 has grid fins which can fold for storage in a B-2’s bomb bays and offer greater control at high speeds. Grid fins have higher drag than planar fins, and so are usually smaller.
Detonation timing is managed by the Large Penetrator Smart Fuze (LPSF), which adjusts the moment of explosion based on impact depth and the characteristics of the underground structure.
The possibility of unexploded ordnance at those sites emerged last February, when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the International Atomic Energy Agency that unexploded American munitions were present and that inspections could not proceed until security protocols were agreed. The IAEA confirmed that no existing framework governs inspections at bombed nuclear sites.
Even earlier reports from Iranian media said engineers in the Islamic Republic had already developed a GBU-57-inspired warhead for the Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile capable of penetrating up to 20 meters of reinforced concrete, compared to approximately 60 meters for the MOP.
There have also been worries that Iran, which already produces land-attack cruise missiles, could reverse engineer the Tomahawk.
The Islamic Republic also retrieved the wreckage of several stealthy AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, including near intact components.
Even if Iran could not reverse engineer all the munitions it managed to get it hands on, it will still learn a lot from studying them. The Islamic Republic could also transfer these munitions to some of its allies, like Russia and China, to be studied even further.
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be better if the iranians just focused on making a nuke, then they would be safer, like north korea is.
if the russians and chinese weren’t such cowards they would give the iranians some nukes, just like the americans gave the israelis nukes
excellent news
reverse the evil
kill a lot of jews