Monday, January 30, 2012

Buzzing Ahmadinedad

Dry Bones cartoon: Israel,  Iran, Nukes,Technology, Ahmadinejad, Drones
Successfully Fighting the Iranian Nuclear threat would take both precisely controlled miniature drones and massive bombs.

Drones? According to Reuters:

Buzz of Israel's drones resonates throughout region

(Reuters) - Service in the drone squadrons of Israel, the world's oldest military operator of pilotless aircraft, sometimes begins on the fields of teenaged model plane enthusiasts.

Veteran air force officers scout new talent among radio-controlled model clubs, a drone commander said Monday during a rare media tour of his unit.

"It's a small world, where everyone knows everyone," said Major Gil, who under censorship regulations could not be identified by surname.

"Those youths who show promise and pass the initial tests are admitted to the course (after their conscription)," he said.

Also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the drones that dot the skies of Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of U.S.-led operations began as an Israeli idea for improving real-time battlefield intelligence after the 1967 Middle East war.

"We are the first air force that started to use UAVs in an operational way," Gil said.

Israel's drones, like those of a few foreign powers, have since evolved into a sophisticated fleet of long-range surveillance platforms that are ever-present over the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.""-more

Massive Bombs? According to Russia Today:

US toothless against Iran rock: Pentagon seeks new superbomb

"Having considered the toughness of the rock-hidden Iranian nuclear facilities, America's Nutcracker military command has decided to save jaw and develop a new conventional superbomb, since the US still plans to do the job in Iran without nukes.

Washington has once again reminded Tehran that it has the military capability to crack Iranian hard-target nuclear sites with conventional weapons, leaking to the Wall Street Journal plans to develop an even more effective bunker-buster bomb.

The American military is no longer in love with the most powerful non-nuclear weapon it possesses, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a 13,600-kilogram mammoth capable of penetrating deep underground facilities.

The Pentagon paid around $330 million to Boeing to develop and produce 20 MOP bombs, specially developed to destroy bunkers in countries like Iran and North Korea.

Now, the Defense Department intends to spend another $82 million, to make those bombs even more effective.

An MOP is capable of penetrating 60 meters of reinforced concrete or 38 meters of hard rock, delivering 2,700 kg of explosives deep down, to reliably demolish anything manmade. Yet, in the case of Iran's Persian mountains, even this doesn't seem enough."-more

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