Riporto in inglese, xk non ho tempo di tradurre.. non so, si potrebbero
recuperare maggiori info se disponibili e ci si potrebbe fare un volantino
anche per il coordinamento (magari riprendiamo qualcosa dal Dottor
Stranamore)... la "madre di tutte le bombe", hanno costruito. sigh.
Iao,
Cate
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force Tuesday tested the biggest conventional
bomb in the military's arsenal, dropping the new 21,000-pound device on a test
site at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, U.S. officials said.
The Pentagon hopes the test will pave the way for use of the bomb -- should
there be a war in Iraq -- against critical targets on the surface and
underground.
The new Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, was dropped from a military
transport plane over a test site at Eglin, 60 miles east of Pensacola, Florida,
just after 2 p.m.
It was the final test of the new Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, and the
first to use actual explosives. Two previously undisclosed tests, one in
February and one on Friday, were inert.
The Air Force released video of the Tuesday's test, which showed the bomb
falling through the sky and bursting into a massive fireball upon impact. A
cloud of smoke then rose hundreds of feet into the sky.
The video was released in hopes of placing additional pressure on the Iraqi
military, officials said.
"The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates,"
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters. "Short of that -- an
unwillingness to cooperate -- the goal is to have the capabilities of the
coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for
the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition."
The National Earthquake Information Center said it found no seismic activity as
a result of the explosion, as some in the military had indicated might occur. A
10,000-foot cloud had been expected and local residents had been warned of
possible loud noise.
Kathy Fite, a waitress at the International House of Pancakes in Fort Walton
Beach, about 20 miles from the test site, said she heard the explosion, but it
did not rattle the restaurant's windows or shake the ground.
She described the explosion as loud, but "not real loud." Fite said the blast
was comparable to the sound of warships that sometimes test fire in the area.
Pentagon officials said they were examining results of the test to determine
whether it worked as designed.
MOAB, privately known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs," has
been under development since late last year. The bomb carries 18,000 pounds of
tritonal explosives, which have an indefinite shelf life. It replaces the
Vietnam-era "Daisy Cutter," a 15,000-pound bomb with 12,600 pounds of the less-
powerful GSX explosives.
As originally conceived, the MOAB was to be used against large formations of
troops and equipment or hardened above-ground bunkers. The target set has also
been expanded to include deeply buried targets.
But military officials tell CNN that the MOAB is mainly conceived as a weapon
employed for "psychological operations." Military officials say they hope the
MOAB will create such a huge blast that it will rattle Iraq troops and pressure
them into surrendering or not even fighting. Officials suggest perhaps the
Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation.
The MOAB is deployed on a pallet from a C-130 aircraft. It initially has a
parachute, but as it deploys, the Inertial Navigation System and Global
Positioning System take over. The bomb also has wings and grid fins for
guidance.
