While Israel’s struggle to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capacities continues, the heaviest protected nuclear facility of Iran in Fordow, two hours from Tehran, remains intact.
Many military analysts are of the opinion that a two-ton precision bunker Buster developed by and in the only possession of the US is the only means to eliminate the Fordow site, which, according to some, is able to produce a nuclear core head in just two to three days.
In Iran’s ‘Forever War’ against the US, the regime has directed itself, Americans killed worldwide
What is a Bunker Buster?
Ruhe said that Bunker Busters are ammunition that are designed to use gravity to “penetrate every mixture of earth, rock and concrete before the bomb itself explodes” underground. The explosion can completely eliminate the target, or “the structure” around the target “collapse” without necessarily changing it, “he explained.
Bunker Busters come in multiple weight classes. Israel has 2,000 and 5,000 pounds of varieties. Only the US has the 30,000 pounds GBU-57 a/B Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP).
Developed under President George W. Bush, Ruhe says that the mop “specially designed” for goals such as Fordow, where nuclear sites of command and control bunkers are hidden far below ground.
How many bunkerbusters are needed?
Ruhe said that the number of ammunition needed to focus Fordow depends on the depth of the facility. The foundation for the defense of democracies states that the facility of Fordow is between 60 and 90 meters (196 and 295 feet) underground. The director -General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi told the Financial Times last week that the facility reached 800 meters underground.
Ruhe said that Grossi, who went to the Fordow facility, may be ‘trying’ to post: “Hey, military action is not the solution here.” “
Trump says he can or may not touch Iran: “I had it”
The mop would have a 200 feet penetration depth. Ruhe said that, given the underground distance of Fordow and the difficulty in penetrating the rocky mountain slope where the site is dug, the US would probably use a technique called Burrowing, in which a B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber “would drop different pugs one after the other, one after the other.”
Fordow is a unique target. Ruhe said that pilots should take into account the multiple, narrow exit tunnels of the facility, and reach the correct impact angle to penetrate the ground.
Although the Israeli air dominance about Iran has eliminated the need for stealth air activa, Ruhe believes that the Stealth B-2 would be the only tool that is sufficient for delivering the pugs. Ruhe said that timing restrictions make the use of B-52 bombers ‘not relevant’.
Moreover, Ruhe explained that talking about borrowing B-2-bombers on the Israeli Air Force is ‘a dangerous distraction’. Not only is there “0.0% chance” that the US would release this strategic capacity, but Ruhe says that the training of Israeli pilots to fly the B-2 would take a few months.
Can Israël disable Fordow?
Iran warns us who participation in a conflict would mean ‘total war’, refuses to give up disputed nuclear program
Given that Israel is “very tactically inventive” and “very good at maximizing the possibilities they have,” says Ruhe that Israel could achieve his goals at Fordow without the mop.
Ruhe not only offered the unlikely but not impossible scenario where Israel could storm the site in a command raid “, but he said that Israel could use F-15s, accompanied by F-35s, to deliver several 5000 pounds busters about Fordow, with the help of the same bourgeois tactics that the Vs was on the service.
File – in this 25 October 2015, File Photo, a US Air Force B2 Spirit Stealth Bomber performs a viaduct in the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, ALA. (AP Photo/Mark Almond, file)
Such a strike, he admitted, would “achieve a more limited definition of success” than the mop could.
Different expectations for Fordow
The US and Israel probably have different goals in aiming Fordow, Ruhe said. “Americans tend to think of destructive goals,” said Ruhe, while Israel “would probably be in order to say that they have hit the activities there for a year or so.”
Ruhe estimates that the bunker busters may not completely destroy the facility, but that it could be considered a success if it would switch off the power source to Iranian centrifuges, or “to pollute the air” for centrifuges for operating.
Fordo, Iran – Jun. 14, 2025; Maxar satellite images overview of the Fordo Enrichment Facility located approximately 60 miles southwest of Tehran. No visible damage is observed. (Maxar Technologies via Getty)
Click here to get the Fox News app
Israel has “successfully switched off the other parts of Iran’s fuel cycle” in Natanz and Isfahan, Ruhe said. “If you want to prevent a nuclear Iran, Fordow is a large part of that,” said Ruhe. “But it is only a part of what still has to be done and think about it.”
