To achieve its goal of blasting through 60 feet of concrete with a bomb exploding at 200 feet underground, Boeing's Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) team just won a prestigious prize.
The group's recognition with the William J. Perry award was delivered by the Precision Strike Association to honor "one of the Secretary of Defense's number one weapons programs."
At over 20 feet in length and weighing 30,000 pounds, the MOP is a precision guided bomb whose first successful test in 2007 led to an Air Force order for eight more worth $28 million in April 2011.
One of the requirements of Boeing and Lockheed Martin's next generation bomber is to accommodate the MOP as the B-52 does now.
Massive bombs like the MOP are part of the U.S.'s initiative to decrease dependence on nuclear weapons as a deterrent.
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