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Pentagon Redesigns "Bunker Buster" Bomb to Combat Iran
(Wall Street Journal) Adam Entous and Julian Barnes - The Pentagon has redesigned its biggest "bunker buster" bomb with more advanced features intended to enable it to destroy Iran's most heavily fortified and defended nuclear site. U.S. officials see this development as critical to convincing Israel that the U.S. has the ability to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb if diplomacy fails. In recent weeks, American officials showed Israeli military and civilian leaders secret Air Force video of an earlier version of the bomb hitting its target, and explained what had been done to improve it. The newest version of the Pentagon's largest conventional bomb, the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), has adjusted fuses to maximize its burrowing power, upgraded guidance systems to improve its precision, and high-tech equipment intended to allow it to evade Iranian air defenses in order to reach and destroy the Fordow nuclear enrichment complex, which is buried under a mountain near the Iranian city of Qom. U.S. officials said the U.S. and Israel have reached an understanding that they will assess the intentions of Iran's leaders after the June elections, and then, barring progress on the diplomatic track, shift to a detailed discussion of military options.