Israel’s attack to Iran destined to destroy its nuclear program has raised speculation about whether the United States would use one of the most powerful weapons in the United States to make it happen.
The Israeli government alleges that Iran is close to making a nuclear weapon and it is believed that enriched uranium needed to do so occurs and is maintained inside its fordo facilities, at the bottom of a mountain in the northwest of Iran.
Aviators look at a GBU-57, or the massive artillery penetrator pump, at the Whiteman air base in Missouri on May 2, 2023.
US Air Force through AP, file
One of the few weapons capable of damaging that installation and the centrifugers that are believed inside is the latest massive artillery pump GBU-57 A/B, known as Bunker Bustter.
It has 20 feet long, weighs 30,000 pounds and is able to penetrate 200 feet deep into a goal and then explode.
ABC News collaborator and retired colonel Steve Ganyard said the bomb, which has never been used in combat, was specifically designed to be used against goals in Iran and other places where the facilities have been built underground and protected by a thick concrete.
“You make sure to keep them for places like Iran and North Korea because you don’t need something that goes so deep” in normal circumstances, he said.
Ganyard said the bomb contains only 5,000 pounds of explosives designed to detonate once it reaches its underground objective.
“It would not be a massive explosion.” The ground would penetrate and shoot some rubble, but it will not be a massive cloud, “he said.
No other army, including Israel, has access to the GBU-57 or the platform that can deliver the enormous useful load, the bomber Stealth Spirit B-2, which can transport two of the giant bombs.
The Air Force bombers are currently parked at the Base of the Whiteman Missouri Air Force and take 15 hours to get to Iran if they deploy, according to military experts.
A B-2 spirit returns to the base of the Whiteman Air Force, Missouri, from a deployment to Diego García, British Indian Ocean territory, May 9, 2025.
Airman Senior Devan Halstead/509th Bomb Ala/US Air Force
Gaynard said that the stealthy abilities of the B-2 would not be a factor in a hypothetical Mission of Buster in Iran, since the Israel army has destroyed a large part of Iran’s air defense systems.
Iranian officials have dismissed Israel’s claims that he was working on a nuclear weapon.
A Stealth bomber from the US Air Force B2.
Mark Almond/AP, file
Trump has issued warnings to Iran’s leaders about his alleged plans to build a nuclear weapon and has supported the continuous attacks of the Israeli government against the Iranian objectives.
He has remained not compromised on the possible participation of the United States.
The general director of the OIEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, issued a statement last week warning about the dangers of attacks on nuclear facilities, including the risk of nuclear pollution.
“Such attacks have serious implications for nuclear safety, safety and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security,” he said in a statement.
