Or, to paraphrase the Gipper, you can dig but you can't hide.
Buried in the news yesterday was a report that will rock Las Vegas.
Literally.
In about three months, the boys and girls will be testing a new
device at the Nevada test range on Nellis AFB near Las Vegas.
Normally, that wouldn't cause anyone's dice to jump, but in this
case the new device is a 700-ton -- yep, you read that right,
140,000 pounds if my math is right -- weapon called "Divine
Strake." It's a penetrator that is designed to go very deep and
then destroy whatever its explosive charge can reach. And that
will be very deep indeed. (Strake, by the by, is an archaic term
for the planks or plates at the very bottom of a ship's hull going
from stem to stern).
This is clearly being developed with the Iranian nuclear weapons
program in mind. I asked my favorite RSG and FNC senior military
analyst Lt. Gen. Tom McInerny about Divine Strake. He said:
The DTRA test on a 700 ton
warhead is designed to penetrate deeply buried bunkers and nuclear
facilities that our adversaries are building. We are using
conventional explosives with very advanced penetrating warheads to
penetrate hardened granite or concrete targets. Although the
penetrating distances are classified they are very impressive.
I also asked Tom about the Iran wargames coming up. His view is
that they will provide us with a lot of valuable intel about how
the Iranian military operates. They have two separate military
establishments, and each has its own army, navy and air force. It
will be fascinating to see how they work together, and how
well.
topics:
Military, Iran, Nuclear Weapons
