Pentagon OKs selling GBUs for war on Iran

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:19:49 GMT

The Pentagon has confirmed selling Israel highly advanced smart bombs capable of taking out Iran's underground nuclear facilities. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced on Tuesday that it had notified Congress of plans to sell 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, the Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-39, to Israel for 77 million dollars. The deal requires approval from Congress. This comes as speculation is running rife that Tel Aviv plans to launch attacks on Iran, under the pretext that Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), seeks nuclear weaponry. The small size of GBU-39, which has been designed to enable jet fighters to carry a higher number of bombs in place of a single one-ton bomb, will allow the Israeli Air Force to hit more of Iran's 'numerous, distant, and fortified' nuclear sites than currently possible. The bombs are capable of penetrating 6 feet (at least 1.8 meters) of reinforced concrete and more than 3 feet (approximately 1 meter) of steel-reinforced concrete. According to an Israeli military expert, Yiftah Shapir, hundreds of GBU-39 units 'would have to be used in an attack on Natanz for it to be successful'. Press TV