New bunker-buster fitted aboard stealth B-2 bomber

[unhappycamper]

New bunker-buster fitted aboard stealth B-2 bomber
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 5, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force’s deep-earth “bunker-buster” weapon is one step closer to reality, now that engineers have tested modifications to the B-2 bomber to carry two of the 30,000-pound bombs.

On Dec. 18, Air Force ordnance handlers at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., loaded a dummy version of the 20.5-foot long Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, into a mocked-up duplicate of the stealth bomber’s weapons bay.

What the Air Force was checking in the test was whether the B-2’s existing mounting hardware is adequate, and if the bomb fit in the bay, according to Airman 1st Class Stephen Linch, a spokesman for the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman.

The combined weight of the two MOPs is 20,000 pounds more more than the published 40,000-pound maximum payload the B-2 is listed as carrying.

However, according to 1st Lt. Candace Cutrufo, Air Force engineers have calculated that the airframe of the aircraft is capable of handling them.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51422