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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]IDF official to WSJ:  Natanz facility may have imploded.  Yikes, if accurate.[/quote]

[quote] Near a peak of the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, workers are building a nuclear facility so deep in the earth that it is likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites, according to experts and satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press.

The photos and videos from Planet Labs PBC show Iran has been digging tunnels in the mountain near the Natanz nuclear site

…
A different set of images analyzed by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies reveals that four entrances have been dug into the mountainside, two to the east and another two to the west. Each is 6 meters (20 feet) wide and 8 meters (26 feet) tall.

The scale of the work can be measured in large dirt mounds, two to the west and one to the east. Based on the size of the spoil piles and other satellite data, experts at the center told AP that Iran is likely building a facility at a depth of between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet). The center’s analysis, which it provided exclusively to AP, is the first to estimate the tunnel system’s depth based on satellite imagery.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit long focused on Iran’s nuclear program, suggested last year the tunnels could go even deeper.

Experts say the size of the construction project indicates Iran likely would be able to use the underground facility to enrich uranium as well — not just to build centrifuges. Those tube-shaped centrifuges, arranged in large cascades of dozens of machines, rapidly spin uranium gas to enrich it. Additional cascades spinning would allow Iran to quickly enrich uranium under the mountain’s protection.

“So the depth of the facility is a concern because it would be much harder for us. It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb,” said Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the center who led the analysis of the tunnel work.

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Such underground facilities led the U.S. to create the GBU-57 bomb, which can plow through at least 60 meters (200 feet) of earth before detonating, according to the American military. U.S. officials reportedly have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. It is not clear that such a one-two punch would damage a facility as deep as the one at Natanz.

With such bombs potentially off the table, the U.S. and its allies are left with fewer options to target the site. If diplomacy fails, sabotage attacks may resume[/quote]

https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-natanz-uranium-enrichment-underground-project-04dae673fc937af04e62b65dd78db2e0

Most analysts think the US could not knock out a site that deep and hardened. You need a heavy bomber like the B-2. The B-2 has a radar profile (0.05–0.75 square meters) greater vs f-35(0.001–0.005 m²). So if you are losing 3 F-35s attacking Natanz you will lose a lot more B-2s. Israel has no B-2s or planes that can carry a GBU-57(30,000 pounds). You can load a f-35 up with 6 2,000 pound bomb but your stealth will be compromised. Dropping 2,000-pound JDAM bombs on it will not do jack. Granite is really dense.

The only way to make something implode is to expose it to pressure. Like the submersible that imploded at the Titanic. How one would make a facility that is dug 250’-300’(most think it is deeper) in granite “imploded”. Maybe you could collapse part of the enter tunnel but the deeper areas will remain.

This claim by the Israeli seems pretty unlikely. Wonder why the WSJ would report it?[/quote]

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