Pentagon Official: We Didn't Need Test of Bunker-Buster Bomb

Several years ago, the Pentagon fought a pitched battle over a test, called "Divine Strake," that was designed to study the use of a massive conventional explosive against hardened underground facilities, such as those that might be used to harbor weapons of mass destruction.

But the controversial test of what would have been the largest non-nuclear conventional explosive was not necessary, according to a senior Pentagon official.

"We were able to examine data collected during previous tests, so there was no need to carry out the test at that time," Kenneth Myers, the director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, told reporters today at a breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Divine Strake was set to use 700 tons of chemical explosive, which could reportedly have been used to simulate the effect of a nuclear-tipped bomb against deeply buried facilities. "I don't want to sound glib here, but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," former DTRA director James Tegnelia said previously of Divine Strake.

The test, which was to take place in Nevada, was eventually canceled in early 2007 amid mounting opposition. Among other concerns, opponents said it could spread radioactive material from previous nuclear tests.

Plans for a nuclear-tipped bunker buster have also since been scrapped, though the Pentagon is developing conventional weapons designed to hit bunkers.

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Myers declined to speculate as to why the test was originally planned if testing data was already available. But he said that researchers were able to "comb through" previous data and use that information for other weapons, like the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a conventional 30,000-pound precision-guided weapon.

"It was a step along the way," he said of the canceled test.

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which is designed to be dropped from a heavy bomber, is supposed to be ready for deployment over the next year. Myers said the Pentagon has made "great progress" with the weapon and has demonstrated that it can destroy buried targets.

"We want to deter," he said of the weapon. "It's a tool."