Iran Strategy and the Pentagon’s New Bomb

On the radar: Fordow and the big bomb; Talks with Iran scheduled; SSBN swallowing Navy budgets; Pentagon estimate on North Korea; Sanctions on Iran and North Korea; and a Couple missile defense backgrounders.

May 3, 2013 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Alyssa Demus

Air Force’s MOP - The Pentagon has redesigned its largest conventional weapon - the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) according to U.S. officials. The new version of the “bunker buster” includes more “advanced features” specifically designed to destroy Iran’s “most heavily fortified and defended nuclear site,” which is buried deep under a mountain.

--New features: the “detonator fuse has been adjusted specifically to withstand impact with layers of granite and steel that encases the [Fordow nuclear] facility.” The new bomb is also “equipped with capabilities designed to counter Iran’s air defenses,” and includes changes to the guidance system.

--Hardware as diplomacy: “U.S. officials said they believe the enhanced...capability decreases the chances that Israel will launch a unilateral bombing campaign against Iran this year and possibly next year, buying more time for the Obama administration to pursue diplomacy after Iran holds elections in June.” The elections are seen as a “critical juncture” in the future U.S.-Israeli strategy towards Iran’s nuclear program, write Adam Entous and Julian Barnes in The Wall Street Journal. http://owl.li/kFWY9

Iran talks - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is slated to meet Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili for talks on May 15th. Justyna Pawlak at Reuters has the story. http://reut.rs/10woD3S

Sub budget warnings - “The immense cost of the Ohio-class replacement program to build the United States’ next generation ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) threatens to jeopardize the rest of the fleet, Navy leaders and lawmakers are warning,” reports Zachary Keck.

--The Navy has been struggling for years to shrink the cost of the submarine in order to make it more affordable on a tightening shipbuilding budget. “All of our efforts to improve affordability of that boat program will not be sufficient to bring our shipbuilding requirement during that period down to within our historical budget,” said Sean Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.

--Analysts assess that the U.S. could provide for its sea-based nuclear deterrent with fewer nuclear-armed submarines. The Navy, however, is looking for other places in the defense budget to pay for the $100 billion, sub acquisition program. Keck asks “Could New SSBN Program ‘Sink’ U.S. Navy?” for The Diplomat. http://bit.ly/Yrz7HJ