The fuse is a complicated component that needs to function with precision after a fall from high altitude and the shock of burrowing through earth or other barriers. GBU-57įew details about the upgrade have been released, but, according to The Drive, it likely includes a modified fuse, which is responsible for detonating the weapon. The spokeswoman said the upgrade had been completed and the current inventory was being retrofitted. The latest upgrade, the fourth for the bomb, “improved the performance against hard and deeply buried targets,” an Air Force spokeswoman told Bloomberg in January. But the latest order comes after the Pentagon successfully tested and deployed an upgraded version, the GBU-57D/B, which may have a different unit cost than previous models. Under a 2011 contract cited by The Drive, the Air Force paid Boeing $US28 million for eight of the bombs, as well as for additional parts and for a redesign of the B-2’s bomb bay. It is designed for operational use by the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which can carry two at a time, but hasn’t been used in combat, and its deployments, if any, are not known. That includes fortified positions and underground targets, like bunkers or tunnels. A GPS-guided bunker-buster, it is “designed to accomplish a difficult, complicated mission of reaching and destroying our adversaries’ weapons of mass destruction located in well protected facilities. The 30,000-pound GBU-57 is the US’s largest nonnuclear bomb. Boeing is to get the total amount of the contract at the time of award. The announcement does not disclose how many bombs were ordered, but it did say the work is expected to be done by 2020.
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