US dropping the largest 'MOAB' on ISIS targets in Afghanistan

[kactus]

This is the largest non nuclear mission carried out by the US in Afghanistan in 16 years...

http://uk.businessinsider.com/us-moab-mother-of-all-bombs-isis-afghanistan-2017-4?utm_content=bufferd3ada&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-ti&r=US&IR=T

I guess deploying such a large bomb in such area with close proximity to some regional super powers including near Pakistan border may send some mixed signals as to what the true intentions of Trump administration are. He wants to make his campaign promises a reality and win the hearts snd mind of his core supporters but my take is there is always more to these stories...

With the ongoing war in Syria deliberated against the Assda regime is such a move to send a warning signal to Russia? 

[DogOnPorch]

Please...the Russians have been raining thermite fire storms in Syrians that rival anything the MOAB can do.

Nobody cared.

[Wilber]

Not the heaviest bomb but probably the most destructive this side of a nuke. The Brits were dropping these during  WW2

 

Grand Slam

[kactus]

The Massive Ordnance Air Blast has cost the US $314 million. 

The US Air Force dropped one MOAB - the largest nonnuclear bomb in the US's arsenal - on an ISIS target in a remote part of far northeast Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the goal was to destroy "a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area."

Let see if that works....

[Rue]

Is it effective? Not sure. Its a powerful bomb that does wide spread damage but as most should be aware the tunnels and mountains to hide in, in Afghanistan, are endless. If it had strategic value and they did wipe out a large cell we probably will never know. What the US did learn in Vietnam is bombing by itself can not get rid of guerillas or terrorists just temporarily contain some of them. Its kind of like using a pesticide bomb on cockroaches or termites. It can have an immediate concentrated effect but not a long term one by itself.

I am sure the US is well aware of that. Me thinks it was a message to Russia, Iran, China indirectly but for sure North Korea.

Problem is its hard to know if that fat boy in North Korea is impressed with such things. Other Presidents felt the  best way to deal with him was ignore him.

Trump is responding to him and his provocations. Not sure where this is headed but its dangerous brinksmanship.

I think the actions in Syria were warranted. This one well he's given his armed forces a green light to make such decisions and what they based it on what real impact it will have against ISIL let alone North Korea we do not know. Might be a smokescreen for something else. Maybe not.

 

 

[Moonlight Graham]

1 hour ago, Rue said:

Is it effective? Not sure. Its a powerful bomb that does wide spread damage but as most should be aware the tunnels and mountains to hide in, in Afghanistan, are endless.

Well for what it's worth, from the article in the OP:

" The bomb explodes in the air above its target and creates overpressure designed to crush tunnels and everything in them."

[bush_cheney2004]

2 hours ago, Rue said:

Trump is responding to him and his provocations. Not sure where this is headed but its dangerous brinksmanship.

 

Too bad...if you always leave things to be done by the Americans, then the Americans will do things the American way.

Trump has unleashed his military....Obama is long gone.  BOOM !!

 

[Charlie]

Trump is using all these tricks to get his ratings back up... Not sure if it would work. 

America is a great country. It leads the world economically, financially and technologically. There is no need to for this superficial show of power through bombs. I don't know if army or republican support base lacks confidence that it needs this kind of silly self assurance. 

[OftenWrong]

19 hours ago, kactus said:

This is the largest non nuclear mission carried out by the US in Afghanistan in 16 years...

I think it was a single bomb with 11 tons of TNT. Aka Daisy cutter. In this case more of a bunker-buster, really.
Hiroshima being about 20k tons, the comparison to nuclear is trivial.

[capricorn]

11 hours ago, Charlie said:

Trump is using all these tricks to get his ratings back up... Not sure if it would work.

I doubt that's the reason. Trump came into the POTUS job without any political experience. He is growing in the job and I'm sure he's now realizing the magnitude of his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief. Seeing as Canada largely relies on the US for its defence, I wish him well.

[Argus]

What the US needs to do is to hire mercenaries. Send these mercenaries to take care of problems instead of using big expensive bombs. This thing only killed a few dozen people, at a cost of over $300 million. You realize it cost something like ten million per kill? If you gave a mercenary company ten million bucks you could get a thousand guys to go down to this valley and root out whatever ISIS or taliban fighters were there and kill them all. They wouldn't be overly concerned about taking casualties like the US or other western armies are, either.

[kimmy]

24 minutes ago, capricorn said:

Trump came into the POTUS job without any political experience. He is growing in the job and I'm sure he's now realizing the magnitude of his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief.

"Who knew that _____ could be so complicated?"

(healthcare, tax reform, Syria, North Korea, more to come.)

Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?  It's the observation that people who know a lot know that they know a lot... people who know a bit know that there's a lot that they don't know, and people who don't know anything think that they know freaking everything. This "growing into the job" you speak of is the ongoing story of a guy who thought he knew everything discovering that he doesn't know anything.

 -k

[capricorn]

21 minutes ago, kimmy said:

 This "growing into the job" you speak of is the ongoing story of a guy who thought he knew everything discovering that he doesn't know anything.

 -k

So he discovers he has a lot to learn. And exactly what is wrong with that? This is not exclusive to Trump. In Trump's case he must learn quickly given the impact his decisions have are far reaching.

[GostHacked]

1 hour ago, Argus said:

What the US needs to do is to hire mercenaries. Send these mercenaries to take care of problems instead of using big expensive bombs. This thing only killed a few dozen people, at a cost of over $300 million. You realize it cost something like ten million per kill? If you gave a mercenary company ten million bucks you could get a thousand guys to go down to this valley and root out whatever ISIS or taliban fighters were there and kill them all. They wouldn't be overly concerned about taking casualties like the US or other western armies are, either.

They tried that with Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. a Not so elite of a team they had to scrap their new stealth heli as they crashed it upon arrival.

[OftenWrong]

1 hour ago, Argus said:

What the US needs to do is to hire mercenaries. Send these mercenaries to take care of problems instead of using big expensive bombs. This thing only killed a few dozen people, at a cost of over $300 million.

Its value as a mission also includes destruction of the militant's underground complex. That's probably the main reason this type of weapon was used. No messing around with mercenaries, just one short, swift strike. I would call this mission a complete success.

Hiring mercenaries would probably be the worst thing they could do. As you see in Mosul, these things can drag on and on. Because mercenaries are just doing their job, man. And if the war ends, then what? They'd be out of work. No more US money.

[GostHacked]

8 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

Its value as a mission also includes destruction of the militant's underground complex. That's probably the main reason this type of weapon was used. No messing around with mercenaries, just one short, swift strike. I would call this mission a complete success.

Hiring mercenaries would probably be the worst thing they could do. As you see in Mosul, these things can drag on and on. Because mercenaries are just doing their job, man. And if the war ends, then what? They'd be out of work. No more US money.

Remember, Osama Bin Laden was one of those mercenaries back in the day.  Supporting him turned out well. :/

[bush_cheney2004]

The cost to develop this bomb and other high yield bunker busting penetrators is chump change to the U.S. DoD's nearly $700 billion annual budget.

These kind of munitions/bombs exist to give an American president and the Pentagon more options than just sending in the infantry on Iltis jeeps.  

 

 

[GostHacked]

The US can't afford to pay it's staff, but no problems with wasting millions on military arms.

[OftenWrong]

8 minutes ago, GostHacked said:

The US can't afford to pay it's staff, but no problems with wasting millions on military arms.

Some of these weapons have maintenance costs, and a shelf life. Must use before "best before" date expires.
There's plenty of spare ordnance.

[kactus]

4 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

I think it was a single bomb with 11 tons of TNT. Aka Daisy cutter. In this case more of a bunker-buster, really.
Hiroshima being about 20k tons, the comparison to nuclear is trivial.

Daisy cutter was tested in Afghanistan in 2011. MOAB is different....

[kactus]

3 hours ago, capricorn said:

I doubt that's the reason. Trump came into the POTUS job without any political experience. He is growing in the job and I'm sure he's now realizing the magnitude of his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief. Seeing as Canada largely relies on the US for its defence, I wish him well.

You cannot deny the fact that his rating as a POTUS has really gone down in recent months...If anything emphasising on his pre-election messages in getting rid of ISIS is exactly what he is trying to accomplish in this mission...I have reservations about this and brlieve this will only escalate things in the region with Russia...

[kactus]

2 hours ago, kimmy said:

"Who knew that _____ could be so complicated?"

(healthcare, tax reform, Syria, North Korea, more to come.)

Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?  It's the observation that people who know a lot know that they know a lot... people who know a bit know that there's a lot that they don't know, and people who don't know anything think that they know freaking everything. This "growing into the job" you speak of is the ongoing story of a guy who thought he knew everything discovering that he doesn't know anything.

 -k

Exactly right! Trump is a businessman not a president.

[capricorn]

33 minutes ago, kactus said:

You cannot deny the fact that his rating as a POTUS has really gone down in recent months...

No doubt. Yet, we've no choice but to accept Trump was elected POTUS and for all our sakes, he needs to succeed in these critical decisions.

[capricorn]

40 minutes ago, kactus said:

Exactly right! Trump is a businessman not a president.

Lawyers can be president, politicians can be president. heck even actors can be president. Therefore, I can't see why a businessman can't be president. Of course, in Trump's case it would make no difference what his profession, he simply doesn't appeal to many people.

[kactus]

9 minutes ago, capricorn said:

Of course, in Trump's case it would make no difference what his profession, he simply doesn't appeal to many people.

Exactly right! Couldn't agree more on that except that he wasn't even a good businessman.