February 16, 2026 at 6:37 PM
New GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator Parts Reverse Engineered From ATACMS Ballistic Missile Tech
Replacing GBU-57s dropped on Iran highlights issues that come from being locked into a single contractor, which the Pentagon is trying to change. The post New GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator Parts Reverse Engineered...
Last year, the U.S. government was able to reverse engineer a critical subcomponent for the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb. Leveraging technology from the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missile saved years of work that would have otherwise been necessary to “eliminate obsolescence issues and meet operational demands.” The reverse-engineering effort also highlights the impacts of being locked into a single vendor, and underscores why the Pentagon is now pushing to make changes to, if not end this practice.
Details about the reverse-engineered component and other aspects of the MOP program were contained in a recent U.S. Air Force contracting announcement regarding efforts to replenish stocks of those bombs following Operation Midnight Hammer. During that operation, B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped 14 GBU-57/Bs on Iranian nuclear facilities.