Is the US military planning to use the "mother of all bombs" to bomb Iran? How is it different from last year’s “Midnight Hammer” earth-penetrating bomb?

US media recently stated that the US military may use GBU-43/B "large air explosive bombs" to attack Iran.

The military conflict between the United States and Iran has not ended. U.S. President Trump recently confirmed that he has not ruled out the possibility of another attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. US media outlets "CNN" and "CBS" reported that the US military may use the GBU-43/B "Mother of All Bombs" (MOAB) attack plan to attack Iran's energy and nuclear facilities. It is worth noting that this 9.8-ton giant bomb is completely different from the GBU-57 ground-penetrating bomb used by the US military in the "Midnight Hammer" operation last June. The former focuses on widespread explosive impact, while the latter specializes in destroying solid targets buried deep underground.

According to a report by US media "CNN" on the 15th, the US military has planned to use GBU-43/B to attack Iran when Trump orders the resumption of military operations. Trump later accepted an interview with the conservative media "Newsmax" and stated that he would not use nuclear weapons and emphasized that the "mother of all bombs" is not a nuclear weapon, but a very powerful conventional bomb, but did not specify whether it has been approved for use.

The full name of GBU-43/B is "Large Air Explosion Bomb", and is also nicknamed the "Mother of Bombs". The total length of the bomb is about 9.17 meters, the weight is about 9800 kilograms, and it contains about 8480 kilograms of explosives. The explosion power is about equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. It mainly destroys surface targets through huge shock waves. According to U.S. military research data, the impact radius of a strong GBU-43/B explosion is about 150 meters. However, the actual damage range varies depending on the terrain, building protection level, and explosion conditions.

The US military dropped GBU-43/B against the Islamic State in 2017, causing huge damage.

Due to the large size of the GBU-43/B, it must be airdropped from the tail of the MC-130 series special operations transport aircraft. The U.S. military used it in actual combat for the first time in April 2017, during Trump's first term, to attack the caves and tunnels of the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

In comparison, the GBU-57 "giant earth-penetrating bomb" launched by the US military against Iran in June last year, bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, weighed about 13.6 tons. Although it was heavier than the GBU-43/B, the explosive load was about 2,600 kilograms, which was much less. This is because the GBU-57 uses a thick, high-strength projectile to penetrate deep rock formations and solid protective structures before exploding, rather than pursuing a wide-area air explosion effect.

During Operation Midnight Hammer last year, the US military dispatched 7 B-2 stealth bombers, dropped 14 GBU-57s to attack Iran's Fordo and Natanz nuclear facilities, and used Tomahawk cruise missiles to attack Isfahan.

However, the GBU-43/B is not a dedicated earth-penetrating weapon. It may not be able to exert the same destructive effect as the GBU-57 when facing nuclear facilities buried deep in rock formations. The US military is still in the attack plan evaluation stage and has not yet confirmed that it will use the "Mother of All Bombs".