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Bunker Buster Specifications
Comparison of current and next-gen penetration capabilities
Primary Sources
US Forces in Middle East Need More Bunker Buster Bombs: Cooper ...
Top US commander in the Middle East says he needs more bunker busters because 'everybody is going underground' By Chris Panella You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email. GBU-57s were used during Operation Midnight Hammer to hit Iranian nuclear facilities. US Air Force photo Adm. Brad Cooper said CENTCOM needs more weapons for deeply buried targets. He said US adversaries are increasingly moving key assets underground. The US first used GBU-57 bunker busters in combat against Iran last year. The top US commander overseeing forces in the Middle East says he needs more weapons for striking hardened targets buried deep underground. The US used its largest conventional bunker-buster bombs against Iranian nuclear facilities last year, underscoring a challenge military leaders say is only growing: adversaries are increasingly putting key military sites, weapons, and command infrastructure underground to shield them from attack.At a US House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, told lawmakers he had a wishlist of weapons and capabilities he wants more of."I'd put three things: more electronic warfare, keep counter-UAS [Uncrewed Aerial Systems] on the leading edge," because tactics are changing very quickly, he said, "and we need to invest more in hard and deeply buried targets," specifically the weapons and other capabilities for finding and striking underground sites."Everybody is going underground," he said. Iran has buried many of its most prized military assets, including nuclear sites, underground to protect them from missile strikes. Last year, the US launched Operation Midnight Hammer, a strike operation against three Iranian nuclear facilities. US forces conducted three massive attacks on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, and in the process, American bombers dropped the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-buster bomb for the first time in combat. The eventual successor to the GBU-57 will be lighter and need to operate in GPS-denied environments. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Fourteen GBU-57s in total were released during the strikes on Iranian facilities. These bombs are among the heaviest and most powerful non-nuclear bombs in the US arsenal. Each munition weighs roughly 30,000 pounds and can only be carried by the US Air Force's B-2 Spirit bomber. The B-2 can carry two internally; the B-2's successor, the B-21 Raider, is expected to car...
Decoys, stealth, bunker busters: How US bombed Iran's nuclear sites
Decoys, stealth, bunker busters: How US bombed Iran’s nuclear sites According to Hegseth, all of the precision munitions struck what they wanted to strike and they believe the strike achieved the destruction of the two facilities. (Illustrative) US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over a backdrop of damage done to Iran’s nuclear site at Fordow.(photo credit: Amichai Stein, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, Reuters/2025 Planet Labs PBC TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY, X (screenshot) via, SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT) US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday afternoon gave the full details and background on how American forces used decoys, stealth aircraft, and mega bunker buster bombs to attack three key Iranian nuclear facilities in just 25 minutes. Hegseth said, “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.” Caine explained that a larger number of aircraft than those which eventually struck Iran flew from Missouri in the direction of Iran initially, but that then the majority of the aircraft split to the West as a decoy. He said the US used 75 precision-guided weapons throughout the operation. Only seven B-2 bombers continued to proceed toward the Islamic Republic under virtual radio silence. Other escort fighter aircraft coming from another direction linked up with the B-2 bombers before the B-2 bombers entered Iranian airspace. Satellite imagery from Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility June 22, 2025. (credit: MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/VIA REUTERS ) The US deployed cyber, preemptive fire from fourth and fifth generation fighter jets and 24 tomahawk missiles from a nearby US submarine to distract Iran as the B-2 bombers proceeded toward the Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities.According to Hegseth, all of the precision munitions struck what they wanted to strike and they believe the strike achieved the destruction of the two facilities. No Iranians were targeted, only the three nuclear sites, according to the US officials. Hegseth added that the US has no interest in regime change, and would have preferred to have reached a new nuclear deal with Iran rather than to have had to attack. However, Hegseth said that Trump determined that negotiations were stuck and that the Islamic Republic would not move far enough to end the threat of it obtaining a nuclear weapon. He warned Iran against attacking US troops in the Middle East, lest the ayatollahs face an even greater American response. Yet, if Iran does not attack A...
Tracking US military assets in the Iran war - Atlantic Council
What is the US military committing to the war in Iran? And what does that mean for a potential conflict with China? Operation Epic Fury is stressing military capabilities—aircraft carriers, bombers, missile defense systems—in ways that will have an impact in other theaters around the world. That includes US efforts to credibly deter Chinese aggression and prevail against China in a future ...
Iran's 440 KM Deep Missile Tunnels Leave U.S. Bunker Busters Helpless
Iran's 440 KM Deep Missile Tunnels Leave U.S. Bunker Busters HelplessIran's hidden underground missile base has sparked fresh questions over whether U.S. bun...
