One of the longest-lasting dynamics in warfare is the continue battle between the defensive armorer and the offensive swordsmith. That battle marked the entire Age of Chivalry, as swords evolved form the machete-sized Gladius Iberius of Rome to the massive two-handed, heavy, reinforced-point armor-piercing broadswords of the late Middle Ages.

The same dynamic repeated with each new weapon. Helmet and bullet. Tank and anti-tank gun. Bomber plane and interceptor. Up-armored HMMWV and IED.  (“Oh, they have armor now, Ibrahim. Better add another 155 shell!”).

Latest example: bunker versus bunker-buster. Our most powerful bunker buster, thanks to the media and Congress doing the work our enemies’ intelligence organizations might not get to, is no longer guaranteed to bust bunkers. So a secret project to boost the bunker-buster’s bunker-busting brisance got underway, only to be blown (no pun intended) by Pasdaran pals Adam Entous and Julian Barnes in the WSJ:

The 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, was specifically designed to take out the hardened fortifications built by Iran and North Korea to cloak their nuclear programs.

But initial tests indicated that the bomb, as currently configured, wouldn’t be capable of destroying some of Iran’s facilities, either because of their depth or because Tehran has added new fortifications to protect them.

Emphasis ours. Gee, why would Tehran do that? Because the media just loves sharing military secrets. Which they usually get from those staffers for those Congressmen who reflexively consider the US the villain in every international contretemps.

Doubts about the MOP’s effectiveness prompted the Pentagon this month to secretly submit a request to Congress for funding to enhance the bomb’s ability to penetrate deeper into rock, concrete and steel before exploding, the officials said.

via Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran – WSJ.com.

Emphasis ours again.

The public has a “right to know” but the public also has a right to be safe, and there are some situations where public knowledge has very small benefit compared to the loss of public safety involved. If nothing else, Entous and Barnes have triggered another round of hardening of bunkers that are producing nuclear weapons, weapons that are being built by a regime driven by an apocaltptic ideology.

One of the few Obama Administration initiatives to be met with unalloyed good cheer in the uniformed military — the guys who do the bleeding that all these Washington drones consider beneath them and their families — has been the administration’s willingness to hammer leaky officials, to arrest them and drag them into court, to yank the security clearances of their family members (permanently, one hopes), to ensure that their runny mouths never threaten another American life.

Adam and Julian, the Revolutionary Guards called. They say tashakor and want to know what size burka you wear. Meanwhile, they’re digging and pouring concrete.

This entry was posted in Air and Naval Weapons, Media vs. Military, Weapons Technology on by Hognose.

About Hognose

Former Special Forces 11B2S, later 18B, weapons man. (Also served in intelligence and operations jobs in SF).

One thought on “We Build Bigger Bombs, They Build Better Bunkers

Brendan

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