U.S. Arms Warplanes With ‘Bunker Busting’ Bombs in Message to Iran
The U.S. military is for the first time putting 250-pound “bunker busting” bombs on attack aircraft recently sent to the Middle East, American officials said, in the latest move to deter Iran.
The decision to put more powerful weapons on a squadron of A-10 Warthogs was designed to give pilots a greater chance of success in destroying ammunition bunkers and other entrenched targets in Iraq and Syria, where U.S. forces have been repeatedly targeted by Iran-backed fighters, the officials said.
The move marks the first time that the U.S. military will put these precision-guided weapons on board the Warthogs, which were recently refitted so that they could each carry up to 16 bunker busters, known formally as GBU-39/B bombs.
