US Air Force Tests New Bunker-Buster - Main News Channel - January 9th 2020

[Capt Boyle]

US Air Force Tests New Bunker-Buster

Main News Channel

Dateline: January 9th 2020

 

The Air Force confirmed that a test of its new bunker-buster munition, the Advanced Massive Ordnance Penetrator (AMOP), occurred at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada on Thursday. This weapon, a smaller version of the original MOP, is capable of achieving much of the same results of its previous generation, at a third of the cost and half the size. The latter allows the B-2, the primary delivery vehicle of the US arsenal of heavy bunker-busters, to carry twice its payload without sacrificing penetration power. 

 

Pictured: AMOP test picture released by US Air Force

 

Some have pointed to the increased tensions with North Korea since their recent nuclear test as the reason behind this test, though the Air Force denied these claims, stating the test was scheduled months in advance. The last North Korean nuclear test, coupled with a series of long-range missile tests, has become a significant point of contention between the hermit state and the rest of the international community. The test, believed to have been a thermonuclear detonation with a yield of approximately 350 kilotons, is the largest weapons test the North Koreans have ever launched and has renewed fears they will use their newfound effective deterrence to attempt to influence the region and possibly force the US to decrease its role on the Korean Peninsula.
 

By Edwin Harding

Main News Channel

[GySgt Cole]

who needs AMOPs when we have SMAWs