How much the US's 'mother of all bombs' really costs

DoD Photo

A Massive Ordnance Air Blast, commonly known as the "mother of All bombs" or MOAB, prepared for testing at the Eglin Air Force Armament Center on March 11, 2003.

The US's Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb does not cost $314 million, or $16 million, but $170,000 a unit, the US Air Force told Business Insider on Friday.

The MOAB, also called the "mother of all bombs," was produced by the Air Force, not by a third party like Lockheed or Boeing, "so we don't have a standard procurement cost associated with them," said an Air Force official.

The $170,000 figure makes sense considering a general purpose 1,000-pound MK-83 costs about $12,000. The MOAB simply features more high explosives and larger fins to direct the GPS-guided munition.

Many outlets, from The New York Times to Business Insider, inaccurately stated the cost of the MOAB as being in the millions. Business Insider's article has since been corrected to reflect this information.