Support NeoGAF

[Leafhopper]

I don't even have words for this.

 

[mreddie]

Fuck.

 

[shanafan]

A mile blast radius more than likely means that civiliians were hit.

Well, if they hit the desert and its underground tunnels, then no. It all depends what was within this mile radius. I wouldn't think the bomb was meant to target a populated city area.

 

[RoKKeR]

Did Trump need to seek congressional approval to drop a bomb of this magnitude?

CNN Pentagon person says a 4-star general can approve it.

 

[E-Cat]

Did Trump need to seek congressional approval to drop a bomb of this magnitude?

It probably fits under the umbrella of 'war against terror', making it a blank check.

Loopholes, hell yeah!

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

He can't wait to brag about dropping this shit at his next rally, can he?

 

[iMax]

"A blast radius stretching a mile in each direction"

Holy crap. Hard to even really imagine.

Wouldn't that be a two-mile radius?

 

[Amir0x]

No. I left, was a refugee and then got citizenship in the West years ago but.. how can I not sympathize when I hear such things. This is insane.

Wow, I'm glad you were able to get out and stay safe then. I just thought it would be fascinating to have a GAFer currently in Afghanistan. Like what are the gaming markets like in Afghanistan? How does one become a game hobbyist there, what are the consoles? Be curious to find out how they made it to a game forum while still in Afghanistan.

Anyway, I understand. I'm not from Afghanistan and I sympathize. This is fucked up use of force.

Allot of people going nuts, but something to bear in mind is that this only a single bomb, not a whole bombardment, and that said I'm having a tough time finding footage or details on how wide and destructive the blast actually is.

It's super fucking destructive. And we have bunker busters specifically for getting underground targets. We haven't seen the intel, but given how fucked up Trump's administration is and how terrible their Yemen OP was and their Syria airstrike was, I feel fairly secure saying this is yet another attention grabbing opportunity for them. Irresponsibly using the strongest non nuke in our arsenal for the first time on the battlefield, wiping out a mile in any direction from the blast. Insanity.

This is 80 days in and he's escalated to this level. This is no joke.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

The plaudits Trump received for Syria strike means we will see more of this.

TBF, Trump did say that he will bomb the shit out of ISIS.

 

[djplaeskool]

Did Trump need to seek congressional approval to drop a bomb of this magnitude?

It's a conventional weapon in a theater I believe is still covered by current force authorizations. I don't think it needs to go all the way up the chain of command.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Wouldn't that be a two-mile radius?

2 mile diameter.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Pepsi: We made the biggest mistake ever...
United Airlines: hold my beer...
Sean Spicer: leeeerooyyyy Jeennnnnkinnnsss
Donald trump:

 

[guek]

Tsar Bomba was 57 megatons. So over 5 million times what this bomb was in terms of released energy.

*blares Russian national anthem*

 

[super-heated plasma]

The bomb was used in a remote area and meant to take out ISIS hidden in caves with pressure waves. I sincerely doubt the US would have dropped it if they knew many civilians were within the area.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Wouldn't that be a two-mile radius?

1 mile radius = 2 mile diameter

 

[Ouroboros]

I didn't know something like this existed at the non-atomic level. Geez.

 

[RoadHazard]

If there is a god, he won't be president at day 900.

If there is a God, it's one that doesn't give a shit about humanity.

Spoiler

There isn't.

 

[TheLaughingStock]

The tsar bomba?

The Russians had the father of all I believe.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Wouldn't that be a two-mile radius?

No. Radius is from the center out. A one-mile radius, a two-mile diameter.

 

[diablos991]

Wouldn't that be a two-mile radius?

Nope.
https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/circle.html

Radius is different than diameter.

 

[LordOfChaos]

5% tinfoil mode: This is now competing in headlines with this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-killing-18/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.50fe0f0dcb78

 

[backflip10019]

The only way I could see this being acceptable is if it completely wiped out ISIS's top leadership.

Anything else and it's completely excessive.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Trump seems to like felxing the military muscle

5% tinfoil mode: This is now competing in headlines with this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-killing-18/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.50fe0f0dcb78

Jesus fucking christ

 

[E-Cat]

The sad truth...

I had a feeling Trump would start to resort to this type of action after receiving the apparent approval from most that he did the right thing in Syria. He now believes that all he has to do is drop bombs to get a positive news cycle. This guy puts no serious thought into anything...

And neither do some gaffers, judging by that one thread where the guy's opinion of Trump went up after the thing in Syria. smh

 

[Saganator]

I thought they dropped a couple of these in Afghanistan a while ago?

 

[Bookoo]

Welp I just freaked myself out looking at Nuke Map and the Tsar Bomba radius.

 

[iMax]

2 mile diameter.

1 mile radius = 2 mile diameter

Well, that's more than a little embarrassing for me. <facepalm>

 

[Brandson]

Did Trump need to seek congressional approval to drop a bomb of this magnitude?

Even if you strictly need congressional approval, that only matters if there would be consequences for not seeking approval. Trump probably feels pretty confident that congress wouldn't do anything about it, and I think he's right.

 

[MattKeil]

Err. The Tsar Bomba is a nuke. A pretty big one. Biggest ever, in fact. And scary as fuck.

This MOAB is old news. They used them years ago. Its only historic in that its being used against ISIL.

I'd say the Brimstone deserves far more attention.

The MOAB is a 14 year old piece of tech, but no MOAB is known to have been used in conflict before now.

 

[JHoNNy1OoO]

Wow, I'm glad you were able to get out and stay safe then. I just thought it would be fascinating to have a GAFer currently in Afghanistan. Like what are the gaming markets like in Afghanistan? How does one become a game hobbyist there, what are the consoles? Be curious to find out how they made it to a game forum while still in Afghanistan.

Anyway, I understand. I'm not from Afghanistan and I sympathize. This is fucked up use of force.



It's super fucking destructive. And we have bunker busters specifically for getting underground targets. We haven't seen the intel, but given how fucked up Trump's administration is and how terrible their Yemen OP was and their Syria airstrike was, I feel fairly secure saying this is yet another attention grabbing opportunity for them. Irresponsibly using the strongest non nuke in our arsenal for the first time on the battlefield, wiping out a mile in any direction from the blast. Insanity.

This is 80 days in and he's escalated to this level. This is no joke.

There is absolutely no doubt about it. They all knew the headlines would be "US drops biggest bomb outside of nuclear arsenal". What was that about Russia?

 

[RecRoulette]

Really interested to see how this is covered.

 

[Piggus]

A bomb like this wouldn't be dropped in an area with a bunch of civillians. That's not what it's built for. Drone strikes or other smaller bombs are lot more deadly to civilians because they're often used in populated areas. Do you guys think they'd build a bomb like this and just never use it? It's not like a nuke where it exists solely as a deterrent.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Welp I just freaked myself out looking at Nuke Map and the Tsar Bomba radius.

And that was only half of its original intended yield. The entire idea of bombs of that tier is terrifying.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Jesus. It's so big it has to be pushed out of a cargo plane instead of dropped from a bomber.

 

[Kyzer]

How many civilians did we just murder?

The sad truth...

I had a feeling Trump would start to resort to this type of action after receiving the apparent approval from most that he did the right thing in Syria. He now believes that all he has to do is drop bombs to get a positive news cycle. This guy puts no serious thought into anything...

im pretty sure we didnt kill any civilians its a remote region and we hit it because of the tunnels underground\

Did Trump need to seek congressional approval to drop a bomb of this magnitude?

not for this one at least, its afghanistan

 

[Fancyarcher]

I'd hope our military leaders (who are actually experienced) would know better to make a huge mistake, but with Donald in charge I don't know. This was clearly an approval ratings boost anyway. Ugh!

 

[Lautaro]

It seems to me people here are overreacting, its one bomb and the target doesn't seem to be a populated area. I guess not only Trump knows more than the generals...

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Really interested to see how this is covered.

Very positively.

If there is one thing the US media loves it is war.

 

[hobblygobbly]

And that was only half of its original intended yield. The entire idea of bombs of that tier is terrifying.

Yeah they had to reduce it or else their bombers would get caught up in it if my memory serves correct.

 

[Dhx]

Classic Russia, lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_Massive_Ordnance_Air_Blast

Had the same thought. Tsar Bomb all over again.

CNN Pentagon person says a 4-star general can approve it.

Fun fact. Early on after WW2 and before better safety protocols were developed, generals also had some leeway and discretion over using nuclear payloads.

 

[guek]

I was tempted to make a thread the other day on MOAB and FOAB asking why we have yet to create something between those and conventional nukes. Basically, why don't we have non-nuclear WMDs? You'd think the tech would be there by now.

 

[Aikidoka]

The bomb was used in a remote area and meant to take out ISIS hidden in caves with pressure waves. I sincerely doubt the US would have dropped it if they knew many civilians were within the area.

"If they knew". The question is how much the military cares to check and double-check that there weren't. Empirically, they tend not to give a shit.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I think I would prefer Trump being Putins puppet to Trump vs. Putin dick measuring contest with bombs.

 

[kami_sama]

Everyone freaking the fuck out (normal) and the grid-fins catch my eye. They're the same as the ones in the Falcon 9!

On-topic, we don't know where exactly was the target, but most probably it was just an overkill.

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

im pretty sure we didnt kill any civilians its a remote region and we hit it because of the tunnels underground

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems pretty ignorant to think there's not a single innocent person within a 2-mile diameter.

 

[Netherscourge]

top-down view of a MOAB:


EDIT - apparently this is a BLU-82 Daisy Cutter blast.

 

[The Horror the horror]

How is a bomb with a blast radius of a mile not considered a WMD?

 

[RustyNails]

This is going to be a disaster.

 

[RecRoulette]

Very positively.

If there is one thing the US media loves it is war.

US is a given, was speaking more worldwide.

 

[lawnchair]

Wow at the "Latest Comments" on that video.

i like this one:

"This thing weighs 10 ton. You could drop 10 ton of anything onto a target and it will destroy the target.Ten ton of toilet paper will destroy a target....&#65279;"