U.S. drops ‘MOAB,’ a ‘Mother of All Bombs,’ in Afghanistan
The Pentagon said Thursday that U.S. forces in Afghanistan dropped the military’s largest non-nuclear bomb on an Islamic State target in eastern Afghanistan. This is the first time a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) has been used in combat. The Pentagon says the bomb was dropped on a cave complex believed to be used by ISIS fighters in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, very close to the Pakistan border. Here’s what you need to know: · The MOAB, also known as the “Mother of All Bombs,” was dropped out of a C-130 aircraft in Afghanistan for the first time on Thursday. · The MOAB had never been used in combat until now. It was brought into service in 2008. · The MOAB weighs 21,000 pounds, including 18,000 pounds of explosives. · It is the largest non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal. · The MOAB is considered similar to a small nuclear weapon. · The concept behind the MOAB was first developed in the Vietnam War through the BLU-82B/C-130 weapon s