Air Force tests
'monster bomb'

The Pentagon gave a threatening show-and-tell to Iraq that consisted of footage of a massive 21,000-pound bomb live-tested for the first time in the Florida panhandle today.

The MOAB, or Massive Ordnance Air Burst bomb – affectionately called the "mother of all bombs" by military insiders – was tested on the western range of Eglin Air Force Base at approximately 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.

The Miami Herald offers RealVideo of the footage of the bomb test.

Pentagon officials have declared the test a success.

The massive blast rivals that of a small nuclear weapon, though the damage from it is much less.

Air Force officials yesterday alerted residents of communities surrounding Eglin's 724-square-mile military installation and told them they may hear an explosion that sounds like thunder or a slamming door.

Residents in nearby Navarre, Fla., reported hearing something similar to a sonic boom, which shook houses and rattled windows.

The Pentagon videotaped the results of today's test. Broadcast of the footage serves as a warning to Iraq of what the U.S. could inflict. Military planners believe the video may scare Iraqi soldiers into surrendering.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at a briefing today the MOAB is a psychological weapon and could be used in Iraq to convince soldiers that resistance would be futile.

"There is a psychological component to all aspects of warfare," Rumsfeld said. "The goal is to not have a war. The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates. Short of that ... the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition, and there's an enormous incentive for Saddam Hussein to leave and spare the world a conflict."

21,000-pound MOAB live-tested at Eglin Air Force Base

The GPS-guided MOAB is an updated version of the 15,000-pound BLU-82. The BLU-82, nicknamed "Daisy Cutter," had been considered the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb. Daisy Cutters were first used in Vietnam to create jungle clearings for use as helicopter landing areas.

It was used in the Persian Gulf War to clear minefields and most recently dropped in Afghanistan on caves where al-Qaida leaders were suspected of hiding.

Like the Daisy Cutter, MOAB is shoved out of the back of C-130 cargo planes. It produces a "mushroom" cloud of smoke and dust similar to that created by a nuclear explosion and creates a force sufficient to knock over tanks and kill any people within several hundred meters of the detonation, according to StrategyPage.com.