MOAB

blanston12 · Post by **blanston12** » 27 May 2006, 14:46

I saw a show on the american discovery channel the other day and the were taking about the USAF's MOAB bomb (Massive Ordnance Air Blast or more populary Mother Of All Bombs) which weighs 21000 pounds and when deployed is slid out the back of a C130. Its the USAF's bigest bomb and the presenter said it was the biggest conventional bomb ever. Now if my memory is not failing me, didnt the RAF have a bigger bomb for the Lancaster back during 'the war'?

Post by **DaveB** » 27 May 2006, 14:50

Hi Joe,

The Lancaster carried two particularly big bombs.. the Tallboy at 12,000lb and the Grand Slam at 22,000lb!!

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 27 May 2006, 15:34

The MOAB is the largest conventional bomb in terms of explosive power, not weight. While it is 1,000 pounds lighter than the Grand Slam (which the US used as well during Korea) it is a Fuel-Air Explosive and its destructive power is many times greater than the Grand Slam.

Also, while the MOAB has only been deployed by an Air Force MC-130E to date in its test drops, the weapon was actually designed so that it can be dropped from the B-52 and B-2 or the B-1B if the forward bomb bays were converted to the Cruise Missile configuration however there are only 2 aircraft capable of doing that as part of the SALT II treaty.

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 27 May 2006, 15:36

A good resource on all of the Massive Ordinance Penetrators and what the USAF terms "BLU's" is GlobalSecurity.org. You can find the pages here -

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... /dshtw.htm

blanston12 · Post by **blanston12** » 27 May 2006, 15:45

Well in the show I saw it did not mention that it was a fuel air mixture bomb and from globalsecurity.org it says the warhead is

The 21,700-pound [9,500 kilogram] bomb contains 18,700 pounds of H6, an explosive that is a mixture of RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine), TNT, and aluminum. H6 is used by the military for general purpose bombs.

The show did say it was an airburst weapon and that made it more effective than if it detonated on impact. If the show had said it was the most powerful conventional bomb ever it would not have gotten my attention, but they said largest and I did not think that was correct.[/url][/quote]

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 27 May 2006, 15:59

Also, I was doing a little more research and found out that the US actually built a bomb even larger than the British Grand Slam called the T-12. It was a 43,000 pound bomb that carried over 17,000 pounds of explosive. It was however a penetration and demolition bomb, so its destruction was from the earthquake-like pressure waves sent through the ground to destroy underground bunker complexes and launch facilities.

Post by **DaveB** » 27 May 2006, 17:25

ChrisT wrote:

found out that the US actually built a bomb even larger than the British Grand Slam

It was only going to be a matter of time.....

DaveB :tab:

Post by **Garry Russell** » 27 May 2006, 17:26

So that's settled then

Americans have bigger bombs :shock: :roll:

Garry