US drops largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan

[minteK917]

Not going through the whole thread. Has anyone told this guy that we dropped 20,000 bombs on ISIS in 2016 yet?

Yeah but this one is bigger, it will totally work this time!

[Mihalik]

First of all, worrying about civilian casualties is how you lose wars.

You still don't get it. We won the "War" both in Iraq and Afghanistan on a whim. But not understanding the local populace and politics has turned the entire thing unwinnable. Every time we kill a civilian we turn another local against us. Every time that hits the news a radicalized Muslim from Saudi Arabia or Yemen takes up arms.

We are creating our own enemies.

This is not WW2. It's not coalitions of nation states duking it out. This is a war between two value systems, every time we lower ourselves to their level we create more and more of them. More suicide bombers, more radicals, more money donated to them and so on and on.

And this is why we aren't winning.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Terrorists killed by Bomb = X
Terrorists created by bombing = X(2)

[Kellhound]

Right, so we were just having this long discussion about why Tomahawks were useless for damaging runways. Now we drop this to destroy tunnels.

Is this the right hardware for the job?

Unless the tunnels are very deep and twisty or equipped with blast doors, the overpressure from the blast wave would be very devastating in confined space.

[Independent voter]

Terrorists killed by Bomb = X
Terrorists created by bombing = X(2)

You don't understand the religious. The MOAB was a message from God.

[minteK917]

I love it. A grenade sized nuke. We'd have contests to see who could throw it and live.

The hand grenade nuke is an old cold war idea even. The scientists from los alamos used to joke about the only reason they havent made one, is not finding someone stupid enough to throw it yet.

[Kellhound]

My firstt hought: they are fieldtesting it because they will use them in North Korea soon.

Unlikely, it can only be employed in areas that have had all medium and high altitude air defenses removed.

[Gib Lover]

Unlikely, it can only be employed in areas that have had all medium and high altitude air defenses removed.

Yeah the MOAB doesn't exactly work in a place with adequate AA, perfect for anti-insurgency though. Too bad our strategy changed after we bought them in 2011

edit: That's the thing about the MOAB, it isn't this new weapon we developed and dropped just now, we've been testing it since 03 and bought them and were ready to use them 6 years ago we just fundamentally changed how we were fighting the war on terror so never got to use them. Now we have a situation that more or less was what they were designed for and decided to field test it while also letting Donald flex his baby-dick I guess?

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

You don't understand the religious. The MOAB was a message from God.

Not the message you think it was...but yes...it was a message.

[Deleted]

What a waste of a bomb that could have been used on N. Korea. Trying to defeat ISIS is never going to happen..

The delivery of that weapon makes it unsuitable for war, too exposed to enemy attack, but good in operations against concentrated terrorists.

One could develop a missile for it...but neither Rus nor US would be bothered to make a special missile for such weapon, it would be heavy n wouldn't be used often. Those global strike missiles stole the research monies I bet

MotherRussia always has to 1up US

Slavs love to blow shit up!

[prwraith]

The hand grenade nuke is an old cold war idea even. The scientists from los alamos used to joke about the only reason they havent made one, is not finding someone stupid enough to throw it yet.

I'm SURE we could find somebody.

[Gib Lover]

The grenade sized nuke just reminds me of the 100MT Tzar Bomba Russia theorized. They literally couldn't drop it because no plane was fast enough to drop it and escape the blast radius, even if it was a delayed parachute deployment.

[Kujako]

I'm SURE we could find somebody.

I recall a second hand story, of someone in basic training with dummy hand grenades pulling the pin and looking in the hole on the bottom so he could see the primer go off. He was discharged, minus an eye and chunk of face.

[Kathandira]

So how are we going to know if this was a success? Are we going to now go and dig up the site to see if there are any bodies to be found?

For all we (non-military personnel) know, it was just dropped for show. Underground tunnels aren't very visible to the naked eye.

[Gib Lover]

So how are we going to know if this was a success? Are we going to now go and dig up the site to see if there are any bodies to be found?

For all we (non-military personnel) know, it was just dropped for show. Underground tunnels aren't very visible to the naked eye.

I'm sure the military will report the destruction and number of militants killed just to boast about the effectiveness of the bomb. Whether it's true or not is another story.

[Deleted]

There's civilian casualties in every war. Maybe Isis should stop hiding behind civilians

Or maybe you should stop suggesting the US comit warcrimes?

Anyways hard to say what happened until more details come out, but its been a while since we heard anything about afghanistan, I honestly didnt even know that ISIS had a presence there.

[Deleted]

Is there a video, that's all I care about.

Well, its targets were underground..but here is an open air explosion, old video of thermobaric weapon, now think the blast is 300 meters..that's a shitload of dead rats

I apologize for bad quality but this is pre-1080p era... *shudders*
that beauty deserves a 4k video n with some buildings for comparison

[Kathandira]

I'm sure the military will report the destruction and number of militants killed just to boast about the effectiveness of the bomb. Whether it's true or not is another story.

Indeed. This is going to be interesting to see the follow up reports.

[Kellhound]

The delivery of that weapon makes it unsuitable for war, too exposed to enemy attack, but good in operations against concentrated terrorists.

One could develop a missile for it...but neither Rus nor US would be bothered to make a special missile for such weapon, it would be heavy n wouldn't be used often. Those global strike missiles stole the research monies I bet



Slavs love to blow shit up!

It is delivered the same way Daisy Cutters were delivered during Vietnam. It can be employed anywhere there is no threat from medium to high altitude anti-aircraft systems (i.e, MANPADS and small caliber AAA cannot stop it).

[smaktat]

Who cares about collateral damage? - USA

you sir have a terrible opinion