It’s known as the MOAB, an acronym for Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, but the letters are also used to mean “mother of all bombs.” Whatever you call it, the GPS-guided munition was dropped last night in the Achin district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. Its target was ISIS tunnels and personnel.
The MOAB, which weighs in at 21,600 pounds, is America’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb. Last night’s deployment was the first time the U.S. has used the device in combat.
CNN reports:
The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the military sources.
[…]
The military is currently assessing the damage. Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the use of the bomb, according to the sources.
The MOAB was developed during the Iraq War.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Here is a video of a test eight years ago of a slightly smaller, 18,000-pound MOAB:
https://youtu.be/HsQdeAeOEg4