The first Air Force-led flight test of the massive ordnance penetrator took place last week, USAF spokesman Capt. Dave Faggard confirmed to the Daily Report Tuesday. The details are sketchy. A B-52 bomber carried the 30,000-pound mega bunker buster for the test, but, beyond that, Faggard said he couldn’t go into specifics. “Data about individual tests are not being released at this time,” he said. The Air Force has taken the lead for MOP testing from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which concluded a MOP technology demonstration in January that featured five test drops from the B-52. This flight test—on the B-52—is actually the inaugural step in demonstrating the Boeing-built bomb on the B-2A stealth bomber and fielding it as soon as possible. Earlier this month the Air Force leadership told Congress that the MOP had had “mixed results” in the tests up to that point.
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....