Northrop Grumman [NOC] is integrating an upgraded version of Boeing’s [BA] bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) onto the B-2 stealth bomber, according to a Northrop Grumman executive.
“It’s being integrated on right now, as a matter of fact,” Northrop Grumman Vice President and B-2 Program Manager Dave Mazur told reporters yesterday at a press conference in Washington. “The airplane will be ready for the new model when it comes.”
Mazur said the company is doing ground testing this week and will follow up with flight testing shortly. Mazur did not specify what defined an upgraded MOP.
The GBU-57 MOP is a 30,000 pound, 20-foot long munition designed to strike deeply buried, concrete-encased bunkers that Iran is alleged to have with over two tons of explosives. The MOP is built to be dropped at high altitudes and is only on the B-2, the Air Force said.
The Air Force said in a Jan. 30 notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities that it intends to negotiate with Boeing on a sole-source basis an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract for further integration and sustainment of the MOP. The Air Force said the contract would have an ordering period of three years with an estimated ceiling of $80 million.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said last summer, if necessary, the MOP is ready and the service continues to improve it (Defense Daily, July 26). The Air Force last spring awarded Boeing a $98.8 million contract to procure enhanced threat response redesign for the MOP (Defense Daily, April 16).