The Air Force’s massive ordnance penetrator, or MOP, is a good first step at being able to destroy deeply buried targets beyond the reach of other bunker busters, says Lt. Gen. Phillip Breedlove, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and requirements. However, the MOP—a massive weapon of 15 tons—must be succeeded soon by weapons offering the same effect, but in a much smaller package, he told attendees at Thursday’s Air Force Association-sponsored Air Force Breakfast Series presentation in Arlington, Va. A next-generation penetrator munition, to be based on the hard target void-sensing fuze, should be “about a third” of the size of the MOP, so that “it can be carried in an aircraft we can afford to build,” said Breedlove. He encouraged industry contractors to get cracking on the future weapon, which will equip the Air Force’s next long-range strike aircraft.
Air Force Munitions Gets Big Boost from Reconciliation
June 28, 2025
Thanks to reconciliation, the fiscal 2026 Air Force budget would get a surge of munitions procurement, but it's not yet clear if the production increase will be sustained. The Air Force revealed the secret AIM-260 air-to-air missile's funding for the first time.