The U.S. has conducted the first test detonation of a massive bomb designed to crack hardened bunkers, like suspected military facilities in Iran and North Korea.
A huge mushroom cloud of dust is expected to rise over Nevada's desert in June when the Pentagon plans to detonate a gigantic 700-ton explosive -- the biggest open-air chemical blast ever at the Nevada Test Site -- as part of the research into developing weapons that can destroy deeply buried military targets.
A senior Bush administration official and the House Appropriations Committee this week declared the Energy Department’s controversial Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study dead. The study, intended to assess the feasibility of developing a reliable, deeper-penetrating nuclear weapon than currently in the arsenal has been the subject of domestic and international criticism. Proponents say it is needed to threaten hardened and deeply buried targets. Critics say it could cause mass civilian destruction if used, might be deemed a more “usable” weapon, and undermines global nonproliferation efforts.
Controversial plans to research nuclear “bunker busters” have been abandoned by the by the US in the country's 2006’s budget. The Pentagon will instead focus on developing a conventional deep-earth penetrating bomb.
Nuclear “bunker busters” could destroy enemy hideouts hundreds of metres underground but, if the target is in an urban area, a strike could lead to more than a million civilian deaths, warns a report from the US National Research Council (NRC)
The Bush administration has proposed providing Israel with 100 'bunker-buster' bombs capable of destroying underground targets, a move seen as sending a message to Iran to halt its nuclear programme.
Earth-penetrating nuclear bombs would be capable of destroying military targets deep underground, but not without inflicting "massive casualties at ground level," according to a new congressionally mandated study.
A nuclear weapon modified for earth-penetration that the Bush administration is seeking funding to study would not burrow far enough into the earth to contain its blast according to a Senior Department of Energy official.
The Bush administration is seeking $8.5 million to resume a study by the Energy and Defense departments on the feasibility of a nuclear "bunker buster" warhead, but the proposal is generating opposition in Congress and some leaders are pushing for a broader review of the nation's multibillion-dollar nuclear weapons programs.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is trying to restore funds to resume study of building an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon designed to destroy hardened underground targets.