Weapon for the target, americas most senior Military Commander in afghanistan has defended the decision to drop a huge bomb on Islamic State militants in a remote area in the east of the country. This is the first time the us has deployed in combat the massive ordinance air blast bomb, referred to as the mother of all bombs. The afg ha n to as the mother of all bombs. The afghan doc mac says 36 militants we re afghan doc mac says 36 militants were killed and no civilians although Islamic State denies that. The afghan government. Frank gardner reports. A remote valley in a remote country. Then, this. 11 tonnes of high explosives, dropped an an isis tunnel complex in afghanistan. The blast was felt 30 miles away. The weapon used is called moab, or Massive Ordnance Air burst, also known as the mother of all bombs. This was its first time used in combat. This was the right weapon against the right target. We will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our afghan comrades. To eliminate
raises the question of the u.s. moving forward an what results will with see from the blast. staggering is about u.s. resolve in afghanistan. thank you nick, so much for that. so exactly what is this mother of all bombs? they stand for massive ordinance air blast bomb, the biggest conventional meaning non-nuclear in u.s. arsenal, 30-feet wing along, 19,000 pounds of explosives, it is gps guided but so big it has to be dropped from a mc-130 cargo plane. it s intended for use against surface targets unlike the bunker penetrating bomb which is
thank you for having me. . the use of the mother of all bombs, massive ordinance air blast bomb in afghanistan, was this appropriate in your view? well, until we get more information, i m going with no. because it sounds like they went after 36 isis infantrymen or whatever you want to call them. it seems like you just use a shotgun to kill a fly. i m not sure it was the right use of this type of weapon. i think there are other weapons that could have done it. i would ask you this, and you may certainly know this, but they got caves and tunnels as well, this sort of network of caves and tunnels used to transport weapons et cetera. that was not worth using this on? again, there are other ordinance that could have done the same job. i m not entirely sure it was the proper use.
thank you. so what exactly is the mother of all bombs it stands for massive ordinance air blast bomb. it is the biggest ever used in battle. 22,000 pounds, gps guided but so big it has to be dropped from an mc-130 cargo plane. it is intended for use against surface targets. u.s. intersection agencies were not the only one whose intercepted trump campaign
area equivalent to nine city blocks. this is the right weapon against the right target. a spokesperson tells cnn each bomb cost about $170,000. because it is built in-house and created from parts of existing sift t systems. it is constrained. no civilian collateral damage. it will collapse tunnels. explode ieds. but beyond its physical impact, military analysts say there is payoff in flaunting such a huge weapon which could rattle isis on the ground. it will have a huge psychological effect on this area that has a lot of transitioning between pakistan and afghanistan isis fighters. afghan ambassador to the u.s. says to expect an increase of military action in afghanistan. do you need the u.s. to do more to make that happen? should they expect more u.s. action like this? well, in operations like this, we do use we do do joint operations with the united