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CHAMP missile can hit underground nuclear plants – Firstpost

CHAMP missile can hit underground nuclear plants – Firstpost


When the BUFF appears, it’s not bluffing.

Out of the US Air Force’s (USAF) three strategic bombers—B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer and stealthy B-2 Spirit—the Big Ugly Fat Fella (BUFF) is the most iconic, reliable and cost-effective.

The nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortress, the subsonic, monstrous Cold War warrior that has roared for the last 70 years, has a fearsome reputation. From the Vietnam War to targeting the Taliban and the Islamic State, the B-52’s appearance sends chills down the enemy’s spine.

With the largest wingspan of the three bombers at 185 feet, it is more than 40 feet tall, weighs around 83,250 kg, has a 219,600 kg maximum take-off weight, 141,610 kg fuel capacity, Mach 0.84 speed, 50,000 ceiling and 14,080 km unfuelled combat range.

The B-52’s most lethal feature is its 31,500 kg payload of the most diverse bombs, missiles and mines of any combat aircraft.

Its nuclear firepower includes 12 AGM (air-to-ground missile)-129A advanced cruise missiles, 20 AGM-86A air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) and eight bombs. The conventional payload includes eight AGM-84 Harpoon missiles, four AGM-142 Raptor missiles, 51,500lb bombs, 301,000lb bombs, 20 AGM-86C ALCMs, 12 joint stand-off weapons, 12 joint direct-attack munitions and 16 wind-corrected munitions dispensers. The B-52H can also deliver 51,500lb, 301,000lb and 202,000lb navy mines. Besides, it can deliver the stealthy armour-penetrating ALCM JASSM.

B-52s appear frequently in West Asia

The US has increased the frequency of its Bomber Task Force in West Asia (Middle East) after Donald Trump returned to the White House.

On March 4, one of the two B-52s stationed in Fairford, UK, was joined by Royal Air Force jets and they flew to the Mediterranean. Later, the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) F-35s and F-15s joined the sortie in an integrated mission.

According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the region, the mission aimed at “strengthening partner interoperability and demonstrating force projection capabilities in the region”.

In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces 
said, “During the flight, the forces practised operational coordination between the two militaries to enhance their ability to address various regional threats”.

On February 17, the two B-52s stationed in the UK escorted by American F-15s and fighters from four partner nations flew across nine countries in the CENTCOM area of responsibility with mid-air refuelling and live munition drops.

“Bomber Task Force missions demonstrate US power projection capability, commitment to regional security and ability to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the CENTCOM region,” CENTCOM chief General Michael E Kurilla said.

In the next 48 hours, the two B-52s flew across Europe and six partner countries in the region with aerial refuelling and training missions at ranges.

The Bomber Task Force missions were a warning to Iran to dissuade it from ‘pursuing a nuclear bomb’ and not attacking Israel or harming American bases in the region.

Trump’s maximum pressure on Iran

As of February 8, Iran’s net total enriched uranium stock had increased by 1,690 kg, from 6604.4 kg to 8294.4 kg (Uranium mass), according to the 
IAEA’s quarterly report dated February 26.

Per the report, titled “Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015)”, Iran can convert its current stock of 60 per cent enriched uranium into 174 kg of weapons-grade uranium (WGU is 93 per cent) in three weeks at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, enough for 7 nuclear weapons, taken as 25 kg of WGU per weapon.

Iran could produce its first quantity of 25 kg of WGU in Fordow in less than one week. Iran’s total stocks of enriched uranium and its centrifuge capacity at Fordow and the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant combined are sufficient to make enough WGU for over 10 nuclear weapons in one month and 12-13 in two months. By the end of the fourth month, Iran would have used up its stocks of enriched uranium and produced enough WGU for 17 weapons.

Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran nuclear deal)—which limited the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and other provisions—in his first term in 2018.

In 2020, he declared that “as long as [he is] President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon”.

In the same year in November, he asked his senior aides and Cabinet members whether he had options to bomb 
Iranian nuclear sites. However, they warned him that such an attack would trigger a massive conflict in West Asia.

During an election campaign event in North Carolina in October 2024, Trump said that Israel should “hit the nuclear [sites of Iran] first and worry about the rest later” after Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on October 1.

Now, Trump has resorted to a “
maximum pressure campaign against Iran. The campaign includes reducing Iran’s oil exports down to zero to stop it from obtaining a nuke and ICBMs. Trump has imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran in February to prevent it from obtaining a nuke.

Trump has adopted a carrot-and-stick policy towards Iran. He has neither ruled out striking Iran’s N-plants nor said yes while calling for a new nuclear deal.

In January, the US president said that he hoped “Iran will hopefully make a deal” but didn’t rule out striking its nuclear plants if it didn’t. In a February Truth Social post, he said that reports that the US, “working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens are greatly exaggerated” and he preferred a “Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement” that will allow Iran to “peacefully grow and prosper”.

In early February, he 
told the 
New York Post that he prefers a deal with Iran to “bombing the hell out of it”.

Recently, Trump claimed to have sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to negotiate its nuclear programme. However, Iran said that it never received the letter.

Referring to the letter, Trump again left the military option open when he told Fox News, “There are two ways Iran can be handled—militarily or you make a deal. I prefer to make a deal because I’m not looking to hurt Iran.”

Khamenei dismissed Trump’s comment as an “insistence of some bullying governments … to impose their expectations”. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed direct negotiations with the US unless Trump’s maximum pressure policy ends.

Israel can’t destroy Iran’s underground N-plants

Iran has, at least, 
20 nuclear facilities, above and below the ground, dispersed all over the country given the threat posed by US precision-guided munitions and Israeli airstrike capability.

The Natanz and Fordow, Iran’s prized nuclear facilities enriching uranium, are buried several metres underground. Natanz’s enrichment chamber is estimated to be 20 meters underground while Fordow’s is buried at 80 metres. The under-construction enrichment site near Natanz is, at least, 100 metres deep.

Israel can only destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities that are above the ground.

On October 26, 2024, Israel’s Operation Days of Repentance destroyed Iran’s Taleghan 2 facility, in the Parchin military complex. The plant, part of the Iranian Amad nuclear weapons programme, which was halted in 2003, designed plastic explosives needed to set off a nuclear device.

Iran neither revealed that the facility was reactivated nor declared it as part of its nuclear programme. In early 2024, Israeli and American intelligence 
detected Iranian scientists conducting computer modelling, metallurgy and explosive research at Taleghan 2.

Israel doesn’t have the bomb(s) and delivery platform to destroy underground N-plants.

Israel needs bunker-buster bombs to destroy underground facilities. Israel’s biggest bunker buster is the US-supplied 2,268-kg GBU (guided bomb unit)-28, which can penetrate 30.5 metres of earth, around 10 metres more than the depth of the Natanz plant.

Israel’s only warplane that can deliver the GBU-28 is the F-15I, a superior version of the US F-15 with a greater range than its F-35Is and F-16Is and is best suited for long-range strikes.

However, the F-15I faces several limitations.

First, its external fuel tanks would have to be dropped considering the GBU-28’s weight and the manoeuvres it would perform to avoid radar detection and air defence missiles.

Second, the jets would need refuelling from the IAF’s KC‑130 or the Boeing 7007. A 2009 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that 12 tanker equivalents would be required in one mission to attack Natanz, Isfahan and Khondab. The tankers would be vulnerable to Iranian air defence missiles.

Though a June 2022 
report in The Jerusalem Post stated that the IAF had modified the F-35I to hit targets deep in Iran without refuelling, external fuel tanks would increase the jet’s radar signature and compromise its stealth features.

Third, one F-15I can realistically carry only one GBU-28. Therefore, several F-15Is with maximum payload would be needed to strike the underground N-plants. Striking Natanz, Esfahan and Khondab simultaneously would probably require 90 tactical fighters, the CSIS stated.

For example, in the October 26 attack on Iran, more than 100 Israeli aircraft, including the F-35, F-15A and F-16I, flew for around 2,000 km with refuelling.

Israel’s best option for bombing Natanz is the around 13,600-kg GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) in the US inventory. But Israel has neither the bomb nor the delivery platform. Only the US stealth B-2 Spirit is programmed to deliver the MOP though it was also tested using the B-52. Again, more than one B-2 would be needed to bomb all the underground facilities.

In an $
18.82 billion deal signed last August, the US cleared the acquisition of 50 new F-15IAs, based on the F-15EX, and 25 F-15I+, an upgraded version of the F-15I. The F-15EX’s biggest advantage is that it can carry the GBU-57A/B.

Still, the Fordow and the under-construction enrichment site near Natanz are beyond the MOP’s reach as it can penetrate only 61 metres.

B-52’s most powerful missile against Iran N-plants

The October 26 unprecedented Israeli attack on Iran seems to have been planned for a future strike on its underground nuclear facilities.

The IAF destroyed air defence systems, including three Russian S-300 air defence systems, protecting important oil and gas facilities, military sites linked to Iran’s nuclear programme and ballistic missile production, and radars.

Israel wanted to damage Iran’s air defence so that its nuclear facilities and other critical assets become more vulnerable to future attacks.

If the US and Israel decide to bomb Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, the B-2 can be used to drop the GBU-57A/B However, the bomb will be unable to destroy the Fordow and the under-construction enrichment site near Natanz.

Here comes the B-52 with its once-secret weapon—perhaps, that explains the increasing number of sorties in West Asia in a warning to Iran.

The B-52 can carry the Counter-electronics High-Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) missile. This high-power microwave (HPM) energy weapon can incapacitate or damage the electronic systems of Iran’s underground N-plants without causing casualties or collateral damage.

The AGM-86A missile can carry the Boeing-made CHAMP, which can hit multiple targets. With a range of around 1,123 km, the CHAMP flies at low altitude, enters the enemy’s airspace and emits sharp pulses of HPM energy that destroy computer chips and disable electronic devices.

According to Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter who wrote the book CIA at War, CHAMP contains an 
electromagnetic pulse cannon that uses a super-powerful microwave oven to generate concentrated energy. An electronic equipment becomes useless as the energy causes the voltage to surge.

HMP can reach any military or nuclear facility buried in a mountain and destroy its power cables, communication lines and antennas. Radars can’t detect the missile as it renders them inoperable and strikes it target.

HMP weapons will also be integrated with the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range. The weapon is a large, stealthy and low-detection ACLM with a 450-kg armour-piercing warhead. The missile will also be integrated with the F-35 and drones.

CHAMP was a secret until the USAF tested it in a flight over the Utah Test and Training Range in October 2012. CHAMP’s microwaves destroyed every computer and security system in a two-storey building without any collateral damage.

Today, we turned science fiction into science fact,” Boeing said in an October 22, 2012 
release. “In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive.”

According to Boeing, the CHAMP missile navigated a pre-programmed flight plan and emitted bursts of high-powered energy, effectively knocking out the target’s data and electronic subsystems.

CHAMP missiles became operational in 2019 and were deployed in various locations across the globe.

The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.



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