The US military has just carried out an airstrike using GBU-43/B super bombs on IS militant targets in Afghanistan.
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| Yesterday (April 13), the US Air Force dropped the GBU-43/B super bomb on Afghanistan. This bomb is also known as the "Mother of All Bombs" and was the world's most destructive non-nuclear bomb when it was launched in 2002. Photo source: Financialexp. |
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| The bomb was dropped on a cave complex believed to be a hideout for IS militants in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. This was the first time the GBU-43/B bomb had been tested in the field and only the third time the US had used this type of bomb, the previous two were test drops. Photo source: Financialexp. |
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| GBU-43/B, also known as the Mother of All Bombs, was produced by the US in 2003. At that time, it was considered the world's largest non-nuclear weapon and was given the beautiful name Mother Of All Bombs (MOAB). Photo source: Wiki. |
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| The bomb is 1.02 meters in diameter, 9.17 meters long and weighs 10.3 tons. Its explosive power is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and has a blast radius of up to 137 meters. Due to its large weight, this bomb can only be transported by heavy transport aircraft and the GBU-43/B was originally designed to be dropped from a C-130 transport aircraft. However, in theory, the GBU-43/B could be dropped from a C-17 transport aircraft, but there is no evidence of this. Photo source: Global. |
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| When detonated, the shock wave of the GBU-43/B can spread up to 900 meters if it does not encounter terrain obstacles. This bomb is also the first American weapon to use a Russian-style tail fin similar to the R-300 Oka and Vympel R-77 bombs, helping it increase its accuracy when falling. Photo source: Wiki. |
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| The bomb will be dropped from the transport plane by parachute, similar to the way the Air Force drops packages from the air or drops tanks. After exiting the plane, the parachute will automatically detach, the GBU-43/B will deploy its guidance systems and begin the process of finding the target when falling through the GPS global positioning system. Photo source: Wiki. |
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| GBU-43/B uses H6 explosive, which is 1.35 times more powerful than TNT. This explosive is a mixture of Hexogen, TNT and aluminum powder, which is very powerful but has a low production cost, is easy to transport and use, so it is widely used by the US Army. Photo source: Wiki. |
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| It was not until 2007 that Russia developed a new bomb with the same power as the Mother of All Bombs and Russia named it... the Father of All Bombs. The Father of All Bombs weighs 7.1 tons, but the explosive power of this bomb is equivalent to 44 tons of TNT, which is... 4 times greater than the Mother of All Bombs. Photo source: Wordpress. |
According to Kienthuc
