China has announced the completion of its own version of America’s “Mother of All Bombs,” the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in warfare. The power of these bombs reside not only in their traditional destructive capabilities, but also their psychological and communicative component. During the Gulf War in Iraq, the US dropped two of these bombs before following them up with a leaflet drop reading, “You have just experienced the most powerful conventional bomb dropped in the war…you will be bombed again soon…you cannot hide. Flee and live, or stay and die.” One British operative one hundred miles away from the blast reportedly contacted his headquarters to report a suspected nuclear weapon deployment. The US also dropped another Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) on Islamic State militants in Afghanistan in 2018. China’s version of the weapon is slightly smaller than its American namesake to allow it to be dropped from the country’s older arsenal of bombers.
Source: China shows off its own version of America’s ‘Mother of All Bombs’ – Business Insider
