Reports say President Donald Trump is weighing the use of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, bomb. Here’s what that is.
WASHINGTON —
New reports say President Donald Trump may be considering using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, also known as the MOAB or “Mother of All Bombs,” against Iranian forces and energy infrastructure.
The MOAB has only been used once before. In 2017, Trump authorized the U.S. military to deploy the bomb, targeting an ISIS-linked cave and tunnel in Afghanistan.
The bomb, considered the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, weighs about 11 tons, contains nearly 19,000 pounds of explosives, and has a blast radius of approximately one mile, according to Just Security.org.
Experts say the MOAB is massive by conventional bomb standards, but even the smallest nuclear bombs are at least 900 times more powerful, according to a former defense official.
The cost of the MOAB is estimated at around $16 million each, according to experts.
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