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Massive US bunker-buster bombs make combat debut in Iran strikes

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B-2 SPIRIT

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175063608485920250623000628_US_Air_Force_B-2_Spirit.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber. <em>US Air Force</em></span></span></span></div><p>WASHINGTON - A powerful US bunker-busting bomb was used in combat for the first time when Washington <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/22/trump-says-us-obliterated-iran-nuclear-sites-threatens-more-1052">struck Iranian nuclear sites</a> this weekend.</p><p>Israel had carried out a week of air strikes on Iran, but does not possess the GBU-57 -- a 30,000-pound (13,600 kilogram) weapon viewed as necessary to reach the most deeply buried facilities -- or the aircraft needed to deploy it.</p><p>General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, told journalists on Sunday that Washington&#x27;s forces dropped 14 of the bombs in the massive operation aimed at knocking out Tehran&#x27;s nuclear program.</p><div><strong>- What are its capabilities? -</strong></div><p>The US military says the GBU-57 -- also named Massive Ordnance Penetrator -- is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet (60 meters) underground before exploding.</p><p>This differs from missiles or bombs that typically detonate their payload near or on impact.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CjPM5PTh5hE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>&quot;To defeat these deeply buried targets, these weapons need to be designed with rather thick casings of steel, hardened steel, to sort of punch through these layers of rock,&quot; said Masao Dahlgren, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based research center.</p><p>The 6.6-meter-long GBU-57 also has a specialized fuse as &quot;you need an explosive that&#x27;s not going to immediately explode under that much shock and pressure,&quot; Dahlgren said.</p><p>Caine said Sunday it was too early to comment on what remains of Iran&#x27;s nuclear program, but that &quot;initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.&quot;</p><div><strong>- How is it deployed? -<br/></strong></div><p>The only aircraft capable of deploying the GBU-57 is the B-2 Spirit, a stealth bomber.</p><p>With their long-range capabilities, B-2s departing from the United States &quot;are able to fly all the way to the Middle East to do bombing runs. That&#x27;s been done before,&quot; Dahlgren said.</p><p>The US employed seven B-2s in the Iran strikes -- aircraft that can fly 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometers) without refueling and which are designed to &quot;penetrate an enemy&#x27;s most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets,&quot; according to the US military.</p><p>&quot;This was the largest B-2 operational strike in US history and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown,&quot; Caine said.</p><p>Several B-2s proceeded west over the Pacific as a decoy while the bombers that would take part in the strikes headed east -- a &quot;deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders,&quot; the general said.</p><p>ube-wd/bgs</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p>

<p>The US military says the GBU-57 -- also named Massive Ordnance Penetrator -- is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet (60 meters) underground before exploding.</p>

The US military says the GBU-57 -- also named Massive Ordnance Penetrator -- is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet (60 meters) underground before exploding.