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Kim Jong Un thinks that his weapons are safe deep within underground bunkers. However, what he may not realize is that there is more than one way to penetrate and destroy these bunkers.
“North Korea has said through state media that it has no choice but to advance its nuclear and missile development to defend itself from attack. It says its weapons program is impervious to sanctions and is already capable of hitting the US with a nuclear-tipped missile,” The Australian reported.
However, according to Popular Mechanics, there are currently nine ways that a fortress buried deep within the ground can be targeted and destroyed. Should it ever come to this, the United States military has ways to decommission Kim’s weapons while they sit in their hiding place.
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“The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is a Pentagon organization tasked with combating weapons of mass destruction, including WMDs stored deep underground in concrete bunkers, tunnels, and mountains,” the outlet reported.
Without further ado, here are the ways in which we can discover and destroy Kim’s bunkers, as listed by Popular Mechanics.
Method Number One: GBU-57 MASSIVE ORDNANCE PENETRATOR
The “biggest and the best munition” the DTRA has currently is a 20 foot long bomb, weighing in at 14 tons. It is able to drive through more than 60-feet of concrete.
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Method Number Two: GIANT SHAPED CHARGE
This is an explosive shaped charge which is able to “punch a hole” through solid rock, leading the way for a follow-up warhead to destroy a target buried deep within the ground. This one is super impressive; however, it is reportedly difficult to scale up to a large size. The largest known shaped charge weighs in at 700 pounds and was developed by Sandia National Laboratories back in 2003. That charge was able to drill through 20-feet of rock, creating a large enough tunnel for a follow-up missile.
Method Number Three: ISOMER BOMB
A hypothetical device in which a bomb is triggered by energy release from “a nuclear isomer of the element hafnium.” While it doesn’t pack the same punch as a nuclear bomb, it can potentially be thousands of times more powerful than dynamite. However, research into this type of bomb was halted due to officials being unsure about the validity of the science behind it.
Method Number Four: HARD TARGET MUNITION
These smaller and lightweight bunker busters weight about 2,000 pounds. They can be carried internally by an F-35 and then be “rocket-boosted to high velocity, possibly even supersonic speed.” While impressive, more tests need to be done in order to work on the rock lag that the hard target ammunition faces once shot into the ground.
Method Number Five: INFILTRATION DRONES
The Air Force has reportedly looked into “swarms of crawling drones” similar to the science-fiction ones found in the Tom Cruise film “Minority Report.” These drones would be able to sneak into air ducts or small entry points like sewage pipes to find and destroy the bombs. Research is still being done to make this possible; however, it seems that this may only work once if it is ever employed.
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Method Number Six: EMP BLASTER
“If you can’t physically destroy a facility, just make it useless. Knocking out all the electronics and the power system with a powerful electromagnetic pulse will put it out of action,” the outlet reported, adding that the United States Army has recently worked to develop a Phaser weapon that would essentially be able to short-circuit all electronic devices with a beam of microwaves. The Air Force has a similar device known as the CHAMP which can be carried on a cruise missile.
Method Number Seven: SUPERCAVITATING PENETRATOR
This technology would allow a high-speed rocket to torpedo down towards the bunker. “The idea is that bombs can glide through earth and rock behind a cushion of gas,” Popular Mechanics explained.
Method Number Eight: DEEP DIGGER
The Deep Digger is a burrowing 2,000-pound bomb which is able to blast through 200-feet of solid rock with a “set of nose-mounted cannons.” Developed by the United States Army in 2007, the plan then was to have a swarm of deep diggers be detonated simultaneously to create an artificial earthquake, thereby collapsing the deepest bunkers.
Method Number Nine: ROBOTIC UNDERGROUND MUNITION
This cousin of the Deep Digger is a robot that can be parachuted down into the target area to find the bunker and then tunnel down into the ground. “Like a more stealthy version of The Mole from Thunderbirds… RUM would also carry defensive systems in case anyone tried to stop it,” the outlet concluded.
Kim Jong Un must understand that he is playing with the big boys now, and he really shouldn’t test our patience anymore. The United States military has plenty of options to infiltrate his bunkers. Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the military may not hesitate to employ these strategies.
Boom!
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