Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 16, 2008
Bunker-busters can destroy hidden arsenals
By Amy Teibel, Associated Press
Jerusalem--The U.S. plans to sell Israel 1,000 bunker-buster bombs that Israeli military experts said Monday could provide a powerful new weapon against underground arsenals in Lebanon or Gaza.
The experts said they doubted, however, that the bombs could be used to deliver a crippling blow against Iran’s nuclear program.
In announcing the proposed $77 million deal, which still needs congressional approval, the U.S. Defense Department said the sale of the Boeing GBU-39 smart bombs would be consistent with America’s interest in assisting Israel “to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability.”
Because it is a precision weapon that generates far less collateral damage than heavier munitions, “this bomb is going to be the general-purpose bomb of the next generation,” said Yiftah Shapir, a military analyst at Tel Aviv’s Institute of National Security Studies.
He said possible targets would include “Katyusha launchers in Lebanon or Qassam [rocket] launchers in Gaza.”
Shlomo Brom, the Israeli military’s former chief of strategic planning, noted an increasing tendency to place weapons underground.
In Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrilla group, “one of our problems had been that they put many of the rocket launchers in bunkers and fortifications underground,” Brom said.
One hardened target the military went after in that war was the bunker of Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli security officials have said.
Nasrallah survived the fighting, but has been in hiding since the war.
Past U.S. sales of bunker-buster bombs to Israel have been construed as a veiled threat against Iran’s nuclear program.
But Brom and Shapir said they did not think they would be used against Iran, where key nuclear facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant at Nantanz are buried deep and hardened by yards of concrete.
“You would need something a lot heavier,” he said. The GBU-39 can penetrate 6 feet of concrete, and “6 feet is not enough,” he said.
September 16, 2008
Bunker-busters can destroy hidden arsenals
By Amy Teibel, Associated Press
Jerusalem--The U.S. plans to sell Israel 1,000 bunker-buster bombs that Israeli military experts said Monday could provide a powerful new weapon against underground arsenals in Lebanon or Gaza.
The experts said they doubted, however, that the bombs could be used to deliver a crippling blow against Iran’s nuclear program.
In announcing the proposed $77 million deal, which still needs congressional approval, the U.S. Defense Department said the sale of the Boeing GBU-39 smart bombs would be consistent with America’s interest in assisting Israel “to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability.”
Because it is a precision weapon that generates far less collateral damage than heavier munitions, “this bomb is going to be the general-purpose bomb of the next generation,” said Yiftah Shapir, a military analyst at Tel Aviv’s Institute of National Security Studies.
He said possible targets would include “Katyusha launchers in Lebanon or Qassam [rocket] launchers in Gaza.”
Shlomo Brom, the Israeli military’s former chief of strategic planning, noted an increasing tendency to place weapons underground.
In Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrilla group, “one of our problems had been that they put many of the rocket launchers in bunkers and fortifications underground,” Brom said.
One hardened target the military went after in that war was the bunker of Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli security officials have said.
Nasrallah survived the fighting, but has been in hiding since the war.
Past U.S. sales of bunker-buster bombs to Israel have been construed as a veiled threat against Iran’s nuclear program.
But Brom and Shapir said they did not think they would be used against Iran, where key nuclear facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant at Nantanz are buried deep and hardened by yards of concrete.
“You would need something a lot heavier,” he said. The GBU-39 can penetrate 6 feet of concrete, and “6 feet is not enough,” he said.