MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

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The Conservative
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MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by The Conservative »

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/13/polit ... moab-bomb/

This was to remove ISIS "rats" from tunnels. I like the way they are thinking.
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Lemonade
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by Lemonade »

I'm hoping a video shows up on r/combatfootage.
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Ex-California
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by Ex-California »

Damn beat me to it.

Its really too bad that nukes have such a stigma. Low yield tactical bombs could be delivered a lot easier than this 6 ton behemoth
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ssu
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by ssu »

Did they really use the MOAB for the first time?
California wrote:Damn beat me to it.

Its really too bad that nukes have such a stigma. Low yield tactical bombs could be delivered a lot easier than this 6 ton behemoth
People don't understand nuclear radiation. Just look at the hysteria of any nuclear power plant accident.

And Chernobyl? It's been estimated that the fallout was bigger than all nuclear test done in the atmosphere combined. End result: a wildlife refuge in the border between Ukraine and Belarus.
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kybkh
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by kybkh »



X999999
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Smitty-48
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by Smitty-48 »

Diminishing returns, the shockwave is big, but the ground still absorbs most of it, digging deep pretty much neutralizes raw firepower, no matter how much you pile on, since World War One in fact, big boom, but doesn't actually kill that many guys in the end.

The nuclear option is overrated as well, nukes are about heat and radiation, the shockwave has a maximum velocity, the speed of sound, so the kinetic force from a nuke is not actually any more powerful than a MOAB.
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kybkh
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by kybkh »

It's all about the vacuum though right?

imploding lungs and what not...
“I've got a phone that allows me to convene Americans from every walk of life, nonprofits, businesses, the private sector, universities to try to bring more and more Americans together around what I think is a unifying theme..." - Obama
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ssu
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by ssu »

Smitty-48 wrote:Diminishing returns, the shockwave is big, but the ground still absorbs most of it, digging deep pretty much neutralizes raw firepower, no matter how much you pile on, since World War One in fact, big boom, but doesn't actually kill that many guys in the end.

The nuclear option is overrated as well, nukes are about heat and radiation, the shockwave has a maximum velocity, the speed of sound, so the kinetic force from a nuke is not actually any more powerful than a MOAB.
I remember people talking about ground penetrating nukes in the 1980's. Bunker busters on steroids.



Anybody know how much difference there is between a MOAB and the old Daisycutter? MOAB needs a Cargo plane, obviously...

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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by Smitty-48 »

kybkh wrote:It's all about the vacuum though right?

imploding lungs and what not...
The effect doesn't go that deep, most of the explosion is wasted, you'll kill some, but you won't kill as many as you'd think, considering the size of the bomb, that's why I say diminishing returns, a smaller bomb would have similar effects, the bigger bomb is just for propaganda, to impress the rubes.
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Speaker to Animals
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Re: MOAB Dropped in Afghanistan

Post by Speaker to Animals »

You also can't reach people in bunkers with nukes without a surface blast, which is going to create a massive fallout cloud that spreads across a hemisphere, making everybody (rightly) extremely pissed at the people responsible.

The really fancy stuff is designed to penetrate bunkers and kill people inside, but they don't have much success as of yet. At the end of the day, you still have to send guys in there to clear them out. Which sucks.