The U.S. is expanding an Army ammunition plant in southeast Oklahoma to triple monthly production of its biggest non-nuclear bomb, which could attack underground nuclear facilities in Iran or North Korea, Bloomberg reported.
The expansion of the facility at McAlester Army Ammunition Plant will allow the Army to produce up to eight bombs a month, up from two currently, according to Bloomberg. Completion of the new facility is expected by early fall, and a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held in July, Bloomberg said.
The 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator can be dropped only from a B-2 stealth bomber, Bloomberg reported.
A separate program to test a new "Large Penetrator Smart Fuse" for the bomb has been on hold because of "contract challenges that affected the ability to construct targets" to evaluate the improvement, the Pentagon test office told Bloomberg in its latest assessment of weapons programs.
Iran has a large underground program designed to conceal its military and civilian infrastructure, according to a Defense Intelligence Agency report from 2019 obtained by Bloomberg.
A 2021 report from the agency said North Korea's underground facilities number in the thousands "intended to withstand" bunker-buster bombs, Bloomberg reported.
The Oklahoma plant also has been supplying Ukraine with weapons against Russia, Bloomberg said.
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