{"id":23198,"date":"2026-09-12T06:04:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T06:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=23198"},"modified":"2026-09-12T06:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T06:04:39","slug":"pickaxe-mountain-next-new-activity-at-us-bunker-buster-test-site-fuels-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=23198","title":{"rendered":"Pickaxe Mountain next? New activity at US bunker-buster test site fuels speculation |"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-articlebody=\"1\">\n<div class=\"UgCrb clearfix  \">\n<div class=\"XYebw\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"IYpL4\">\n<section class=\"lIbak  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  mR3IZ \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"lIbak\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"dV65i\">\n<div class=\"gF0tM\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134055333,imgsize-675670,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg\" alt=\"Pickaxe Mountain next? New activity at US bunker-buster test site fuels speculation\" title=\"A US Air Force B-2 bomber being prepared for flight, this type of aircraft has been used to drop the bunker buster GBU-57 on bunkers. (Image credit: US DoW)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"XsNYN img_cptn\"><span title=\"A US Air Force B-2 bomber being prepared for flight, this type of aircraft has been used to drop the bunker buster GBU-57 on bunkers. (Image credit: US DoW)\">A US Air Force B-2 bomber being prepared for flight, this type of aircraft has been used to drop the bunker buster GBU-57 on bunkers. (Image credit: US DoW)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Construction work at an obscure underground weapons test site in New Mexico is drawing fresh attention, with CNN reporting the activity may be tied to planning for a potential future strike on Iran&#8217;s toughest nuclear facility, Pickaxe Mountain, a site the US and Israel have notably left untouched through multiple rounds of strikes so far.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>The link traces back to February 27, the day before the initial wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, when the Pentagon&#8217;s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) quietly awarded a sole-source contract to Pate Construction for work at the Alternate Seismic Hardrock in Situ Test (ALT-SHIST) site, tucked inside the sprawling White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico&#8217;s Jornada del Muerto desert. DTRA, a relatively low-profile agency, leads US military efforts on countering weapons of mass destruction.<!-- --> The agency helped develop the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the bunker-buster bomb that made its combat debut striking Iran&#8217;s underground facilities at Fordow and Natanz during Operation Midnight Hammer, after being extensively tested at White Sands beforehand.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>There&#8217;s speculation a different site within the same range may have been used to rehearse the actual Fordow strike plan, which involved slamming six GBU-57s in rapid succession into each of two ventilation shafts, burrowing progressively deeper with every hit. Notably, White Sands also holds the site of the world&#8217;s first atomic bomb test in 1945.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>DTRA&#8217;s official justification for the February contract made no mention of Iran, citing only an urgent national security requirement, and caution is warranted since ALT-SHIST is a continuously active site with other ongoing projects, including separate work on its Tunnel 7 section dating back to last year. The facility, established in 1995 as a successor to the original 1993 SHIST site, is just one of several hardened-target test ranges DTRA operates within White Sands.<!-- --> Whether or not this particular contract relates to Pickaxe Mountain specifically remains unconfirmed, but the site&#8217;s continued survival through several rounds of US and Israeli strikes keeps it firmly in the conversation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/defence\/international\/pickaxe-mountain-next-new-activity-at-us-bunker-buster-test-site-fuels-speculation\/articleshow\/134055006.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A US Air Force B-2 bomber being prepared for flight, this type of aircraft has been used to drop the bunker buster GBU-57 on bunkers. (Image credit: US DoW) Construction work at an obscure underground weapons test site in New Mexico is drawing fresh attention, with CNN reporting the activity may be tied to planning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"A US Air Force B-2 bomber being prepared for flight, this type of aircraft has been used to drop the bunker buster GBU-57 on bunkers. (Image credit: US DoW) Construction work at an obscure underground weapons test site in New Mexico is drawing fresh attention, with CNN reporting the activity may be tied to planning [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":2,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/us-central-command-2026-09-11t135933.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}