US Drops Largest Nonnuclear Bomb Ever On Afghanistan, How Much Does It Cost?

This afternoon, the United States government announced that it has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever made on Afghanistan.

The bomb, whose official name is the MOAB, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, has been in development since the beginning of the 2000s, is extremely powerful; so powerful -- in fact -- that it's called the 'mother of all bombs' by the military.

But what few know is how expensive it is.

So what is the price tag of that 'mother of all bombs?' Find out below...

The Largest Nonnuclear Bomb Ever

Today, the 'mother of all bombs' was launched by an Air Force C-130 plane against a target in Afghanistan.

Until now, the MOAB has not been used in combat. In fact, it was only tested twice: both times in 2003 in the United States (Florida).

The MOAB is able to destroy a lot of territory given it's size -- 22,000 pounds, the weight of several cars.

Officially named the GBU-43/B, it was created for the war in Iraq, but it never has been used there to date.

When it was designed, the 'mother of all bombs' was billed as the largest non-nuclear bomb ever made.

It's not clear if this is still the case, as Russia has built a similar bomb (called the 'father of all bombs') and other similar weapons are being developed.

The Mother of All Bombs...In Cost

But what few know about the 'mother of all bombs' is its cost. This is not one cheap device.

In fact, according to The Squander, each individual bomb costs around $16 million dollars -- you could buy an entire neighborhood of average-priced houses in the U.S. for that much. Compare that to one of its ancestors, the BLU-82 series, which costs only a few thousand dollars a unit.

The entire MOAB program made less than two dozen units, according to The Squander, which estimates the cost of the development and deployment program at $320 million.

It further says that the C-130 plane used to drop the bomb costs another $30 million per unit.