Washington: As North Korea dug tunnels at its nuclear test site last year, watched by US spy satellites, the Obama administration was preparing a test of its own in the Nevada desert. A fighter jet took off with a mock version of the nation's first precision-guided atom bomb. Adapted from an older weapon, it was designed with problems like North Korea in mind: its computer brain and four manoeuvrable fins let it zero in on deeply buried targets, such as testing tunnels and weapon sites. And its yield, the bomb's explosive force, can be dialled up or down depending on the target, to minimise collateral damage. In short, while the North Koreans have been thinking big – claiming to have...
↧