What's the U.S. biggest bomb that's not a nuke?

Question

How much damage?

The reason I ask is cause I was wondering if we could just drop it on these fanatical muslim f**ckers and get on with our lives.

Before you all start writing hate mail, I mean only terrorists.

Answer 1

MOAB. It weighs 21,000 pounds, but you can bet there is always a bigger bomb coming soon. We just can't get enough of them.

Answer 2

It's a ten-ton monster that can't be dropped from a B-52 -- it has to be dumped out the back of a cargo plane.

It isn't really for bombing towns or busting bunkers, although it would work if used for that. It was invented to make "instant LZs" (landing zones for helicopter-borne troops). If you find you want to go some place that has a lot of trees or other obstructions in the way, you drop the ten-tonner in the middle of it and blow down all the obstructions.

IIRC the British developed a ten-ton bomb back during World War II for super-tough targets -- smashing the submarine pens along the Bay of Biscay, for instance. A couple of them were dropped on the giant battleship "Tirpitz" (these had special hardened steel noses to pierce its armor) and it sank in a matter of minutes. But these had to be carried by specially stripped-down Lancaster bombers, and were all used up long ago, so the ten-ton US bomb is the only one that's still around.

Answer 3

They have one called the block buster (4,000 lbs) which I know they used in WWII. I heard there was another, but I don't think it is operational!

Then there is:

With its use of the 15,000-pound ``daisy cutter'' bomb in Afghanistan, the United States has unleashed one of its most powerful weapons - billed as the world's largest conventional bomb.

The BLU-82 combines a watery mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum with air, then ignites the mist for a huge explosion that incinerates everything within up to 600 yards. The shock wave can be felt miles away.

The BLU-82 uses about six times the amount of ammonium nitrate explosive that Timothy McVeigh used in the bomb that blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

I think you are right with the MOAB! They used the Daisy cutter in Vietnam!

Answer 4

It's a air blast bomb called a MOAB. It recently replaced the daisy cutter. I think it's a 21000 lbs bomb. It's supposed to produce the largest explosion of any non-nuclear type weapons. The technical name of the bomb is a GBU-43/B. Oh and a daisy cutter is only a 15000 lbs bomb.

Answer 5

Daisy Cutters, named BLU-82, are the world's biggest non-nuclear device.The Blu-82, nicknamed "Big Blue," as being "as large as a Volkswagen beetle, but heavier." Digging for the less charming details, one finds that the bomb got its other name, "Daisy Cutter," because of the shape of the crater it leaves -- and that it has the ability to clear a 3-mile-long path. Dropped from huge transport aircraft, "Big Blue" releases a cloud of inflammable ammonium nitrate, aluminum dust, and polystyrene slurry which is then ignited by a detonator. The result is a firestorm that incinerates an area the size of five football fields, consumes oxygen, and creates a shock-wave and vacuum pressure that destroys the internal organs of anyone within range.

but i wouldn't be surprised to find out we had one bigger

Answer 6

The largest conventional bomb in the American arsenal is the Massive Ordanance Air Blast (MOAB, referred to as the Mother of all Bombs). This behemoth weighs in at 21,000 lbs., 18,000 of which is high explosive. It is dropped from any available cargo aircraft, and is guided to it's target using GPS, as well as a back up inertial navigation system (INS, gyroscope).

Answer 7

.
.
Biggest non-nuclear bomb, the Divine Strake. 700 TONS!!!!!
But, stil intest phase. Was supposed to be tested 2 months ago or so. Don't know outcome, but I actually think this will never be operational. I think it is to simulate a low level nuke.

Answer 8

It's called the MOAB or short for "Mother Of All Bombs". It even surpasses the explosive power of even a fuel-air explosive bomb.

It uses a chemical called Tritonal. It is a mixture of 80% TNT and 20% aluminum powder, used in several types of ordnance. The aluminum improves the brisance of the TNT — the speed at which the explosive develops its maximum pressure. The addition of aluminum makes tritonal about 18 percent more powerful than TNT alone.

Answer 9

The current largest bomb is call the MOAB - Mother of all Bombs.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/11/sprj.irq.moab/

Answer 10

As of 2003, MOAB
See links for descriptions and details

Answer 11

It is the nuclear bomb, at least what we know of. The damge is really bad. It blow up a hole city. Like the entire Bronx. Well its the most powerfull.