The European concern MBDA has conducted the second test of the new "anti-bunker" munition HardBut. The development of the heavy bomb is being carried out in conjunction with the Departments of Defense of Great Britain and France and should end with the creation of ammunition designed to destroy a wide range of targets, such as protected command posts, industrial and transport infrastructure facilities and underground caves.
During the tests, the bomb was installed on a rocket cart, which dispersed the ammunition to a speed corresponding to the speed of meeting with a target after being dropped from an aircraft. HardBut was equipped with only a leading explosive charge that facilitates penetration through an obstacle. The warhead was inert, since the tasks of the tests included only checking the strength of the bomb and the electronic components of the "smart" fuse. During the test, the lead charge successfully detonated, the bomb penetrated the massive concrete blocks and reached the target in the correct position.
The exact characteristics of HardBut are unknown. Most likely, MDBA specialists will try to create an analogue of the American MOP bomb, which weighs almost 14 tons and penetrates a 60-meter-thick reinforced concrete ceiling. This is a new class of weapons that can cause serious damage to the most protected existing bunkers or destroy an entire cave system. France and the UK do not have suitable aircraft to use such heavy weapons (the US is planning to use MOPs from a B-2 stealth bomber), but it is theoretically possible to drop a guided bomb from military transport aircraft. The US Air Force has a similar experience - they dropped a MOAP bomb weighing 9.5 tons from a C-130 transport aircraft. However, the exact weight and capabilities of HardBut still remain a mystery, but the proliferation of anti-bunker weapons makes centralized control of troops and the state dangerous and ineffective. Apparently, the future belongs to a distributed control network or the transfer of command and control points outside the theater of military operations - to another country or even to another continent. It should be noted that the US army is moving in this direction.
