The Massive Ordnance Penetrator. It weighs 15 tons and is likely the heaviest conventional weapon ever made.
The heaviest US bomb was the Mk-17 and Mk-24 nuclear gravity bombs, which had a yield in the range of 10-15 megatons. Presumably, only B-36s could carry them, as the bombs were retired at the same time as the B-36s were sent to the scrapyard.
(H/T)
Monday, October 5, 2009
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B-52's have the weight capacity to haul a 20 ton bomb, but probably not the volume. The heaviest bombs the B-52 has hauled was the 8 ton MK-21. Whether the MOP could be hauled by a B-52 or not probably depends on whether it will physically fit through a B-52's bomb bay doors. If not, we're talking about going back to WWI bombing tactics and shoving it out the back end of a C-5 or something, which actually works reasonably well with a GPS-guided bomb dropped from altitude since then the bomb can guide itself on target as long as you're in the general area it needs to go. Just a case where smart bombs can cope with having dumber bombers :). Needless to say you would not do this over contested airspace...
- Badtux the Flightless Penguin
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