LAHORE: With just about a fortnight to go for the November 3, 2026 American mid-term elections, which would witness all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the country’s Senate being contested, President Donald Trump is reportedly considering to hit Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites with the GPS-guided GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), also called the ‘Mother of all Bombs,’ visibly feeling the heat of shrinking national labour market and soaring inflationary pressures.
Here follow some facts about this “Mother of all Bombs:”
According to the “Independent,” which quoted the afore-cited “CNN” report, the MOAB is the largest non-nuclear weapon in the American arsenal.
The Florida-based US Air Force Armament Museum states on its website: “The “Mother of All Bombs” is a large, powerful and accurately delivered high explosive weapon. The MOAB is the largest-ever satellite-guided, air-delivered weapon in history. The 21,600- pound (approximately 9.8-tonne heavy) MOAB is an improved replacement for the unguided 15,000-pound BLU-82 Daisy Cutter used in Vietnam and Afghanistan. MOAB is a guided bomb which delivers 18,700 pounds (equivalent to 8.48 tonnes) of H6 explosive using a BLU-120/B warhead. It uses the KMU-593/B GPS/INS guidance system and is stabilized by series of fixed wings and grid (lattice) fins. Designed to be launched from a C-130 aircraft, the MOAB is strapped to a specially designed cradle. Upon extraction from the aircraft the cradle is separated from the MOAB, which then proceeds to the target.”
The “Air Force Armament Museum” website reveals more details: “This bomb is 30 feet long, five feet wide (with fins retracted) and 10 feet wide with fins extended. It has a Diameter of 40.5 inches.”
According to the “New York Times,” this bomb, first tested in 2003, can obliterate anything, from surface structures to vegetation, within a 1,000-yard radius.
The “BBC News” asserts: “It is particularly effective at collapsing cave systems, mountainous terrain and surface tunnel networks (as seen when the U.S. targeted an ISIS-Khorasan Province cave complex in Nangarhar (Afghanistan) in 2017.”
According to the “United States Bureau of Economic Analysis” and the “BBC News,” although the American economy is showing resilient growth, employers have paused hiring ahead of the mid-term polls.
The “BBC News” adds: “US inflation increased to 3.7%, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to August. Inflation was above forecasts, driven by higher petrol prices, which have risen roughly 9% to 9.1% year-over-year following disruption to Middle East energy supplies due to the US-Israel conflict with Iran. The elections are being fought over cost-of-living pressures across the United States.”
