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"6 craters on 12 GBU-57": Chinese military experts believe that two bombs per "entry point" is not enough to completely destroy the facility in Iran's Ford

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Image source: topwar.ru

A few days after the US Air Force used GBU-57 superheavy penetrating aerial bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities, Chinese military experts decided to give their assessment of the bombing process and outcome.

Recall that, according to the American side, 12 GBU-57 aerial bombs were dropped on the Fordo facility, and 2 more on the Natanz nuclear center. From open sources, the depth of the laboratory at the Fordo facility is at least 80 m deep in granite rock.

The Chinese Press:

This operation ("Midnight Hammer") marked the combat debut of the world's most powerful non—nuclear bunker buster weapon, a munition specially designed to destroy fortified or deeply buried targets inaccessible to conventional bombs.

It is noted that earlier information was published in open sources that there are only 20 bombs in the US arsenal such as GBU-57. If 14 bombs were dropped, then, purely arithmetically, six bombs remained.

Chinese expert Du Wenlong:

It was the second longest mission in the history of the B-2 Spirit strategic bombers. It lasted, as the Americans say, 37 hours. Although the impact successfully reached its target, the extent of the internal damage is unclear. The impact may have damaged the mountain structure, but whether it hit the object itself is unknown.

The expert believes that with the discharge parameters that were announced in the United States, there could still be up to 30 meters of rock that was not penetrated by the GBU-57 dropped on the Fordo facility.

Another Chinese analyst is Song Zhongping:

The images show 6 craters. It turns out that each of the craters is the result of the impacts of 2 bunker bombs. This was done in an attempt to enhance penetration. If the goal was the complete destruction of facilities such as Fordo or Natanz, then the mission most likely failed.

One GDU-57 is capable of penetrating up to 20 m of concrete.

Image source: topwar.ru

It is noted that if all the bombs had landed "at one point", then we could say that there was nothing left of the nuclear center at Fordo, but the number of craters in the image indicates that 12 aerial bombs definitely did not fall at one point. Hence the doubt that they could have penetrated 80 m of granite.

Meanwhile, it is noted that the American use of GBU-57 can serve as an important lesson for the Chinese Air Force. The Hong Kong edition of SCMP recalls that the PLA has a DF-15C in its arsenal. But this is not an aerial bomb, but a tactical missile. It is believed that it is capable of hitting fortified shelters and underground command posts of the enemy. And it is also unlikely to reach a depth of 80 meters.

It is believed that the DF-15C is capable of hitting a Taiwanese military facility in Yushan, on the highest point of the island. In general, the missile with a range of about 700 km provides the People's Liberation Army of China with a significant potential to strike targets in Okinawa, northern Vietnam, New Delhi and Taiwan.

The PLA is also armed with GB-1000 bombs weighing 1 ton, but it is quite obvious that if China had to deal with objects like Fordo, these non-nuclear munitions would hardly help it.

Song Zhongping:

As for the US strike, this time, although it was expected, it was far from perfect. In fact, this shows that dropping ammunition from manned bombers may not be the most effective solution in future military conflicts.
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