The US Air Force has live tested the largest precision-guided munition (PGM) developed to date, the 9,760kg (21,500lb) Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb. The GPS satellite/inertial navigation-guided weapon is 9.2m (30ft) long with a 1.03m diameter. It is packed with 8,170kg (18,000lb) of high explosive. The bomb was rolled out on the back of a Lockheed Martin C-130 transport on a pallet over the Eglin range in Florida. Unlike the Vietnam War-era BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter", the weapon does not require a parachute and is capable of being carried by the Rockwell B-1, Northrop Grumman B-2 and Boeing B-52 bombers. The winged MOAB is larger in size than either the UK's 9,990kg (22,000lb) Grand Slam bomb used in the Second WorldWar and the 19,070kg (42,000lb) T-12 carried by the Convair B-36 bomber in the early 1950s.
Source: Flight International
