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Stephen Chen

Precision-guided bunker busters fly slowly but carry massive warheads wrapped in thick armour. Small nations without air power watch helplessly as bombs fall.
When US B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s nuclear sites with GBU-57 MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) bunker busters on June 22, there was reportedly little resistance.
Chinese researchers have offered a countermeasure: strike the weak flank. Although the bomb’s nose armour is thick, its steel sides are thin and measure just a few centimetres, meaning one or two anti-aircraft shells could crack it open.
Low-cost anti-aircraft guns can be deployed around key sites. But the guns must survive, radar must track and electronic warfare must be countered.
Instead of China’s own weapon, the computer simulation used Swiss Oerlikon GDF guns which are widely fielded in the Middle East, including Iran.
The GDF fires 36 shells in two seconds. At 1,200 metres (0.7 miles), the kill probability hits 42 per cent.
The team led by Cui Xingyi, a researcher with Chinese weapons giant Norinco’s Northwest Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, published the method in the Journal of Gun Launch and Control, China’s top arms journal, on April 14.

Here’s how it works.
The bomb’s egg-shaped nose deflects frontal hits and only side strikes break through. Impact angles must stay under 68 degrees. Beyond that, shells glance off, according to Cui and his colleagues.
Beyond 1,500 metres (4,900 feet), penetration fails. Within 1,200 metres, the inert explosives inside the bomb can be ignited by heat and shrapnel.
The science is simple and based on calculations using World War II armour-piercing formulas.
But there is a trick: guns must pre-aim to a point in the smart bomb’s flight trajectory. The closer the point is, the better, as then the barrels stay put with minimum adjustment. Researchers call it “sniper fire control” tactics.


“This sniper-style interception has several advantages,” Cui’s team wrote.
It lowers servo system demands and eliminates iterative calculations, slashing the response time to 1 millisecond.
“It is engineer-ready with current tech,” they added.
But combat is cruel. Air powers can use mass raids to clean up the guns before sending in the bombers. A smart bomb’s final manoeuvres can spoil trajectory prediction and the 1,200m window lasts for the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, a Beijing-based physicist not involved in the study, noted: “What works in China may not work elsewhere.”


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Science

How to stop US bunker busters? Chinese scientists have an idea

US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites with GBU-57 bunker busters in June met with reportedly little resistance. Photo: AP

Smart US bunker busters can be stopped by low-cost anti-aircraft guns. Photo: Northwest Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering

Will US strikes on Iran tighten North Korea’s nuclear resolve? Why China might be worried

North Korea’s Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile is seen ahead of its launch, at Pyongyang International Airport in November 2022. Photo: AFP 

Think Trump ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear programme? Don’t be so sure

US President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House earlier this year. Photo: EPA-EFE

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that before the US and Israeli strikes, the IAEA had detailed knowledge of the highly enriched uranium amounts and operational centrifuges needed for enrichment. Photo: Reuters

Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant northeast of the city of Qom, after US strikes on the site. Photo: Maxar Technologies/AFP

China’s Wang Yi calls for ‘new international agreement’ on Iran after US, Israeli attacks

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is currently on a European tour, addresses journalists in Paris, France on Friday. Photo: EPA

Iran strikes fallout: will North Korea now treat US nuclear talks as a ‘trap’?

US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance monitor the strikes on three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites on June 21 from the White House. Photo: TNS

North Korea’s “Hwasong Gun 17” ICBM. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has threatened to respond to US threats with nuclear weapons. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Panmunjom on June 30, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova meets Kim in Pyongyang on Sunday. Photo: EPA

An overview of the Fordow fuel enrichment plant one week after US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. Photo: Maxar Technologies/AFP

Kim Jong-un inspects a nuclear material production site at an unknown location in North Korea in January. Photo: AFP

News

China

Chinese researchers test measures aimed at striking the weak spot of massive US warheads with anti-aircraft shells


Chinese researchers test measures aimed at striking the weak spot of massive US warheads with anti-aircraft shells.


Switzerland

Norinco

How to stop US bunker busters? Chinese scientists have an idea

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chinese researchers test measures aimed at striking the weak spot of massive US warheads with anti-aircraft shells

Chinese researchers test measures aimed at striking the weak spot of massive US warheads with anti-aircraft shells