[Herald-UK] Ian Bruce - The U.S. is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources. The improvement of the B1 Spirit jet infrastructure coincides with an "urgent operational need" request for £44m to fit racks to the long-range aircraft. That would allow them to carry experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete. One MOP - known as Big Blu - has already been tested successfully at the U.S. Air Force proving ground at White Sands in New Mexico. Tenders have now gone out for a production model to be ready for use in the next nine months. The French government recently received a memo from the International Atomic Energy Agency stating that Iran will be ready to run almost 3,000 centrifuges in 18 cascades by the end of this month. Diego Garcia was used for strategic strike missions during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars against Iraq.
2007-10-29 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive