Pentagon To Test Bunker-Busting Superbomb

A U.S. Defense Department official overseeing a planned June 2 test blast in Nevada says the explosion could help with development of nuclear weapons. Doug Bruder gave reporters a tour of the test site this week, the Las Vegas Sun reported, and contradicted earlier statements from the Pentagon that the test involves only conventional weapons. The test blast, named Divine Strake, is scheduled to involve 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, the same combination used by Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 killing 168 people.A tunnel in this hillside at the Nevada Test Site will be the home of a large bomb June 2"It could be nuclear or advanced conventional," Bruder said. "A charge of this size would be more related to a nuclear weapon." The Defense Department wants to test "bunker-busters," bombs -- which could be either conventional or nuclear -- aimed at targets hidden deep underground like Iran's nuclear facilities. Congress has banned testing involving nuclear weapons.