One of the most highly anticipated weapons to be used in the war on terror, Massive Ordnance Penetrator or MOP is witnessing an urgent push by the Pentagon to be inducted into the U.S armed forces. The colossal super bunker buster, MOP is designed to penetrate and obliterate underground hardened enemy bunkers and installations and can punch through 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete.

The U.S Department of Defense has allocated an urgent $52 million budget for the MOP and expects it to be operational under various commands by early summer next year. The MOP is considered to be the largest and most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the U.S arsenal and is said to be delivered to its targets by only B-52 bombers and B-2 Stealth Bombers, due to its massive size. The bomb weighs about 30,000 pounds and carries a warhead equivalent to 5,300 pounds of explosives. It is widely speculated that, the MOP has been designed to destroy the underground nuclear facilities currently under operation in Iran and North Korea, though there has been no official word on the intended targets.

According to Kenneth Katzman (Congressional Research Service),

“I don’t really see it as a near-term indication of anything being planned. I think certainly down the road it has a certain deterrent factor. It adds to the calculus, let’s say, of Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il.”

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator can penetrate upto 200 feet underground and is guided by an extremely sophisticated GPS system, thereby enhancing the weapons accuracy. The MOP is said to be ten times more powerful and destructive than the bunker busters it is designated to replace.

Via AP & The Cutting Edge.