The MOAB: What It is, How It Works

Here are the basic facts about the MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Burst), from the How Stuff Works website.

Instead of being dropped from a bomber through the bomb bay doors, the MOAB is pushed out of the back of a cargo plane such as a C-130. The bomb rides on a pallet. A parachute pulls the pallet and bomb out of the plane and then the pallet separates so that the bomb can fall. Once the bomb is falling, a guidance system based on the Global Positioning System takes over and directs the bomb to its target.

The MOAB is built by Dynetics and contains approximately 18,000 pounds of tritonal. Tritonal is a mixture of TNT (80%) and aluminum powder (20%). 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% more powerful than TNT alone. The bomb weighs 21,000 pounds, and is 30 feet long and 40.5 inches in diameter. It is satellite-guided, making it a very large “smart bomb.” It bursts about six feet above the ground.

The idea behind an “air burst” weapon, as opposed to a weapon that explodes on impact with the ground, is to increase its destructive range. A bomb that penetrates the ground and then bursts tends to send all of its energy either down into the ground or straight up into the air. An air burst weapon sends a great deal of its energy out to the side.