[h=3]ISIS IN AFGHANISTAN[/h]ISIS forces operating in Afghanistan have been digging in in Nangarhar province, prompting the U.S. military to drop a 21,000 MOAB ordinance on their underground stronghold.
ISIS-K is an ISIS affiliate whose name stands for ISIS Khorosan, operating in Central Asian territory.
The group has been using such tactics as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and tunneling. Recruits from from Pakistan and Central Asia.
'As ISIS-K's losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense,' said General John W. Nicholson, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan
There are between 600 and 800 fighters there, Foreign Policy reported. Afghan forces backed by U.S. forces opened up an offensive against them just last month.
'Our goal is to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan in 2017,' Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in Kabul, told Foreign Policy.
He said the bomb was used against the large tunnel complex because it allowed the fighters 'freedom of movement' to outmaneuver Afghan forces, and while U.S. forces haven't been able to complete their assessment of what the strike might have achieved, 'what we projected is that the bomb has the ability to collapse the tunnels' on top of any fighters inside.
U.S. authorities have viewed the group with increasing concern due to its growing strength. Policymakers also fear that ISIS forces may migrate there as allied military campaigns advance on other ISIS strongholds.
ISIS-K is an ISIS affiliate whose name stands for ISIS Khorosan, operating in Central Asian territory.
The group has been using such tactics as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and tunneling. Recruits from from Pakistan and Central Asia.
'As ISIS-K's losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense,' said General John W. Nicholson, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan
There are between 600 and 800 fighters there, Foreign Policy reported. Afghan forces backed by U.S. forces opened up an offensive against them just last month.
'Our goal is to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan in 2017,' Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in Kabul, told Foreign Policy.
He said the bomb was used against the large tunnel complex because it allowed the fighters 'freedom of movement' to outmaneuver Afghan forces, and while U.S. forces haven't been able to complete their assessment of what the strike might have achieved, 'what we projected is that the bomb has the ability to collapse the tunnels' on top of any fighters inside.
U.S. authorities have viewed the group with increasing concern due to its growing strength. Policymakers also fear that ISIS forces may migrate there as allied military campaigns advance on other ISIS strongholds.
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Preparations: This was the scene as the only other MOAB to be exploded was readied for action in 2003 in Florida. The tail rotor is part of the guidance system for it to exploded over a specified target
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Mushroom cloud: This was the aftermath of the test explosion seen outside Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida
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The MOAB was pushed out the back door of a giant cargo plane on Thursday, flying to its target with GPS guidance. A MOAB has only been exploded once before - in a 2003 test
[h=3]HOW 'MOAB' WORKS[/h]Key stats:
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The weapon carries a blast wave that can be felt more than a mile away
- Known as the 'Mother Of All Bombs'
- The U.S. military's largest non-nuclear weapon
- Each bomb costs around $16 million (£12.8 million)
- Its explosion is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and the blast radius is a mile wide
- First tested by US forces in 2003
- It is designed to destroy heavily reinforced targets or to shatter ground forces and armour across a large area
- 30 feet (9 meters) long and 40 inches (1 meter) wide
- Weighs 21,000lbs (9,500kg) – heavier than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb
- Leaves no lasting radiation effect
- The bomb has 'grid' fins that fold into the body and then open up in flight to help control its descent
- It can only be deployed out of the back of a large cargo plane due to its size
- The bomb rides on a pallet, a parachute pulls the pallet and bomb out of the plane
- The pallet then separates so that the bomb can fall to its target
- It accelerates rapidly to its terminal velocity and is partially guided to its target via satellite
- It explodes six feet (1.8 meters) above the ground
- The idea behind this 'airburst' mechanism is to spread its destructive range
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The weapon carries a blast wave that can be felt more than a mile away
[h=3]HERE'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE 'MOTHER OF BOMBS'[/h]It was first created as a psychological weapon, designed to scare the enemy into surrendering.
But today, the GBU-43/B - dubbed the 'Mother of all bombs' - has been dropped on an Islamic State complex in Afghanistan.
A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 300 meters wide after it exploded six feet above the ground. Anyone at the blast site was vaporized.
This is the first time the Moab (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) explosive in combat for the first time. But what is the huge explosive, and how does it work?
The Moab or GBU-43/B is the world's largest non-nuclear weapon.
It is designed to destroy heavily reinforced targets or to shatter ground forces and armour across a large area.
Its blast is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. By comparison, the nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima had a blast yield of 15 tons of TNT.
First tested in 2003, it was developed by by US forces in preparation for the Iraq invasion but was never deployed during the war.
The huge bomb measure 30 feet (9 metres) long and 40 inches (1 metre) wide, and weighs 21,000lbs (9,500kg) – heavier than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.
While it has a blast radius that stretches a mile in each direction the bomb leaves no lasting radiation effect because it is non-nuclear.
Deploying such a large bomb isn't easy as even the world's largest bombing aircraft can't manage the Moab's size and weight.
The bomb can only be deployed out of the back of large cargo plane using a unique system.
A parachute pulls the bomb out of the plane on a box-like pallet that quickly separates from the explosive.
Grid fins then extend from the body to help control the bomb's descent.
It accelerates rapidly to its terminal velocity and is partially guided to its target via satellite.
The bomb explodes six feet (1.8 metres) above the ground using an 'airburst' mechanism to spread its destructive power horizontally rather than vertically.
Today, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb hit a 'tunnel complex' in Achin district in Nangarhar province, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.
A specialized MC-130 'Hercules' cargo aircraft released the weapon at 7:00 p.m. local time.
It was too big to drop from a traditional bomb-bay door or release from an aircraft wing, so 'we kicked it out the back door,' a U.S. official told Fox News.
The weapon's sheer power produces a blast that can be felt miles away, largely because of its construction.
Engineers used an unusually thin aluminum skin to encase MOAB's payload, in order to avoid a thicker steel frame interfering with the impact on a target.
The Moab was first developed as a psychological weapon to scare enemy troops into surrender.
A video of the original 'Elgin' test was released to the public in order to unsettle the Iraqi forces.
'The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates,' then-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
'Short of that - an unwillingness to cooperate - the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition.'
But today, the GBU-43/B - dubbed the 'Mother of all bombs' - has been dropped on an Islamic State complex in Afghanistan.
A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 300 meters wide after it exploded six feet above the ground. Anyone at the blast site was vaporized.
This is the first time the Moab (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) explosive in combat for the first time. But what is the huge explosive, and how does it work?
The Moab or GBU-43/B is the world's largest non-nuclear weapon.
It is designed to destroy heavily reinforced targets or to shatter ground forces and armour across a large area.
Its blast is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. By comparison, the nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima had a blast yield of 15 tons of TNT.
First tested in 2003, it was developed by by US forces in preparation for the Iraq invasion but was never deployed during the war.
The huge bomb measure 30 feet (9 metres) long and 40 inches (1 metre) wide, and weighs 21,000lbs (9,500kg) – heavier than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.
While it has a blast radius that stretches a mile in each direction the bomb leaves no lasting radiation effect because it is non-nuclear.
Deploying such a large bomb isn't easy as even the world's largest bombing aircraft can't manage the Moab's size and weight.
The bomb can only be deployed out of the back of large cargo plane using a unique system.
A parachute pulls the bomb out of the plane on a box-like pallet that quickly separates from the explosive.
Grid fins then extend from the body to help control the bomb's descent.
It accelerates rapidly to its terminal velocity and is partially guided to its target via satellite.
The bomb explodes six feet (1.8 metres) above the ground using an 'airburst' mechanism to spread its destructive power horizontally rather than vertically.
Today, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb hit a 'tunnel complex' in Achin district in Nangarhar province, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.
A specialized MC-130 'Hercules' cargo aircraft released the weapon at 7:00 p.m. local time.
It was too big to drop from a traditional bomb-bay door or release from an aircraft wing, so 'we kicked it out the back door,' a U.S. official told Fox News.
The weapon's sheer power produces a blast that can be felt miles away, largely because of its construction.
Engineers used an unusually thin aluminum skin to encase MOAB's payload, in order to avoid a thicker steel frame interfering with the impact on a target.
The Moab was first developed as a psychological weapon to scare enemy troops into surrender.
A video of the original 'Elgin' test was released to the public in order to unsettle the Iraqi forces.
'The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates,' then-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
'Short of that - an unwillingness to cooperate - the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition.'
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Oops! Happened in Iraq when we accidentaly killed a Kurdish leader and his troops who were fighting with us about several years ago.
U.S. Drone Accidentally Bombs Syrian Allies, Killing 18 - Thomas Gibbons-Neff (Washington Post)
A U.S. drone struck and killed at least 18 members of an allied Syrian force on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, after Syrian forces erroneously identified another allied unit as Islamic State fighters.
U.S. Drone Accidentally Bombs Syrian Allies, Killing 18 - Thomas Gibbons-Neff (Washington Post)
A U.S. drone struck and killed at least 18 members of an allied Syrian force on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, after Syrian forces erroneously identified another allied unit as Islamic State fighters.
'An ear-splitting blast then it felt like the heavens were falling in': Afghan villagers describe the terrifying moment the US dropped the Mother Of All Bombs on ISIS terrorists - as Russia reveals its even bigger FATHER Of All Bombs
With an 'ear-splitting blast' heard miles away, the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat left a crater more than 980ft wide after it was dropped by the US on Islamic State terrorists in Afghanistan. As the repercussions of the Trump administration's latest show of force were felt around the world, details of the huge bomb's formidable force emerged yesterday. Locals in villages miles away along the war-ravaged nation's borders said they 'felt like the heavens were falling' as the bomb sent a huge fireball into the sky and made the ground shake.
With an 'ear-splitting blast' heard miles away, the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat left a crater more than 980ft wide after it was dropped by the US on Islamic State terrorists in Afghanistan. As the repercussions of the Trump administration's latest show of force were felt around the world, details of the huge bomb's formidable force emerged yesterday. Locals in villages miles away along the war-ravaged nation's borders said they 'felt like the heavens were falling' as the bomb sent a huge fireball into the sky and made the ground shake.
