Divine Strake test put to a halt
It looks like cooler heads have prevailed in the case of the 700-ton explosion planned for June 2 at the Nevada Test Site (see our previous post).
A couple weeks ago James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency remarked, “it is the first time in Nevada that you’ll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.”
Today we learned that Nevada's Environmental Protection Division has requested a halt to the Divine Strake conventional explosives test until the National Nuclear Security Administration can demonstrate that the massive explosion will comply with state and federal air quality standards. Hey, there’s a good idea.
They’re also asking that hazardous pollutants be identified before the blast and tracked once it occurs.
Other reports suggest the Bush administration is using conventional explosives — 700-tons of them — to see the results of a nuclear strike on foreign soil.
Comments
Its "Divine Strike" not strake. Here is a news story by the Washington Post on "Divine Strike":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001735.html?nav=rss_nation
It is a really suspicious test, because they claim that the ANFO will be 700 tons and will produce a bomb blast equivalent to 593 tons of TNT. It would actually require 1412 tons of ANFO to do that because it has a relative effectiveness factor of 0.42 and R.E. is how effective an explosive is compared with TNT. Here is a Wikipedia article on the R.E. Factor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E._factor
Furthermore, they claim that this weapon will eventually be used in combat. Even if we use an explosive with the one of the highest R.E. Factors, HMX, we still find the bomb would need to be 349 tons. The lumbering giant, the C-5 Galaxy, can only carry 135 tons. A bomb so big cannot be delivered. The final product of this testing cannot be used in combat unless it is a nuclear weapon.
This in combination with the recent report from Sy Hersh, makes me think they are either testing:
1. A conventional bomb (which will be a static test) to approximate the damage a nuclear bunker buster can cause
or;
2. A nuclear bunker buster to see if it would be useful against Iran's enrichment facilities.
Posted by: PC | April 12, 2006 09:56 AM
Its "Divine Strike" not strake.
"Strake" is correct.
Go here to learn what a strake is (in this case): global security.org
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Posted by: the farmer | April 13, 2006 01:11 AM
Via Randi Rhodes. What type of aircraft can carry a 700 ton bomb?
Very suspicious.
Posted by: Jordy | April 17, 2006 01:00 PM