When united States bombed Iran in the early hours of local time on Sunday, it targeted the central three features for the country’s nuclear ambitions: Fordo uranium enrichment plant, Natanz Nuclear Facility and Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. The newly released satellite shows the effect of the picture attack – at least, what can be seen on the ground.
The brunt of the bombing focuses on the Fordow, where American forces dropped a dozen GBU-57 Ordnance Marmaki on a large scale as part of their “midnight hammer” operation. These 30,000 pounds “bunker-buster” bombs are designed to penetrate the Earth as 200 feet as deep before exploding. The Fordow Complex is about 260 feet underground.
This difference accounts for some uncertainty how much damage to the Fordo site has suffered. President Donald Trump shared a post on his true social platform, which was “Ford Gaya Gaya”, and later in a television address stated that “Iran’s major nuclear promotion facilities have become completely and completely distracted.” However, his own army was a little more vigilant about the result in briefing on Sunday morning. General Dan Cain, President of Joint Chief of Staff said, “It will be very early for me to comment on what can happen or not.”
Satellite imagery can naturally tell you a lot about a structure that is still located from the Earth’s surface. But publicly available information about the effects of bombing before and after imagination is the best.
Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Institution Program at the James Martin Center for Nonforation Studies of the Middlebury Institute, says, “We are six craters, three have two clusters, where 12 were large -scale Ordnance Mermandis,” The idea is that you make a hit to dig the same place. “
Those craters say as well as the specific places, calling the Center for Strategic and International Studies Deputy Director and fellow Joseph Roadors on nuclear issues. While the entry tunnels in the Fordow Complex have not been targeted, based on the satellite images of early construction on the US bomb site, the possibility of the ventilation shaft fell on it.
“The reason is that you want to target a ventilation shaft, it is a more direct route for the main components of underground facility,” Roders says.
This straightforward route is particularly important how underground Fordo was manufactured. The US Army facility depends on the “originally a computer model”, Louis says, “Before this everything will cause severe damage to everything from the inside and perhaps the convenience may collapse.” By bombing specific targeted areas with several sages, the US did not require bombs capable of entering the entire 260 feet so that there was sufficient damage.
“They are probably not trying to achieve all the way in convenience. They are probably just trying to get closer to it and trying to crush it with a shockwave,” says Lewis. “If you send a big enough shockwave through that feature, it is going to kill people, break the goods, damage its integrity.”
