The Bomb Lady: Woman who made 'Bunker Buster' bombs possible—Used by US to strike Iran's nuclear facilities

As the United States dropped 14 bunker buster bombs deployed on the 'B-2 stealth bombers' on Iran's nuclear facilities during the 12-day Israel-Iran war, a former Vietnam War refugee Anh Duong looked at the weapon's technical details as she sensed a familiarity.

Duong, 65, who escaped Saigon and found a home in the US, decided to return to the nation that gave her shelter. A month after the September 11 attacks, she got the chance when she became the leader of a team of US military scientists. That team created an explosive in the same family as the bunker buster.

The BLU-118/B, a laser-guided bomb, was designed to travel deep into confined spaces like the underground tunnels occupied by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The BLU is an acronym for Bomb Live Unit, and not "Big, Loud and Ugly, which is maybe what the soldiers say", Duong said in an interview.

The bomb was developed in a way that it produces a high-temperature and sustained blast, "so that our guys would not have to flush out these hills or caves by foot," Duong said.

BLU-118/B, the weapon created by the Navy's 'Bomb Lady', was used several times in Afghanistan. Moreover, her team was credited by everyone for ending America's longest war soon.

How B-2 bombers came in picture?

Before designing the BLU-118/B, Duong and her team were working on a new generation of "high-performance, insensitive explosives, that could take the ride and abuse" of penetrating through the layers or rock before the explosion.

According to a New York Times report, these high-performance explosives were part of the explosives packed into the bunker buster, the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, that was used by the US in Iran to hit its nuclear facilities including Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

Talking about the extent of the damage caused by the bombs, Duong said that the extent cannot be measured by the US, Israel, or Iran.

“Think about it. You went in and bombed an underground nuclear facility. It’s not safe to send anyone into that facility. I suspect it will be a long time before any real, in-person assessment can be done," she said.

Further lauding the teamwork, she said, "Explosives developers are a small community. We know one another and we collaborate a lot. It was not just my work individually. Everything is teamwork.”

She said that she doesn't remember who nicknamed her "the Bomb Lady", but she became known among Vietnamese emigres in the US and globally.