Microwave, toilet, refrigerator: Inside B-2 stealth bombers that flew 37 hours for Iran strike
Seven B-2 bombers were deployed for Operation Midnight Hammer to destroy three nuclear plants in Iran in almost radio silence. They took off from the Whiteman Air Force Base outside Kansas City on Friday and flew 18 hours to enter Iran.
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After demolishing their targets, the B-2s were on their way back home, unattached. The bombers refuelled several times mid-air, and as they are stealth bombers, they were virtually invisible to Oranian radar.
B-2 bombers are equipped for such long-haul flights. There is enough room for one pilot to lie down while the other flies the plane. There is a toilet, a refrigerator and a microwave for snacks. The B-2 first entered service in 1997 and each one costs more than $2 billion; the US Air Force has a fleet of 19, after losing one in a crash in 2008.
One of the B-2's most striking features is its unique design. Lacking a fuselage or tail, the aircraft is a flying wing, which necessitates highly precise control of its surfaces.
With a wingspan of 172 feet and a crew of just two pilots — the B-2 relies on automation to help complete long-haul flights. The 37 hours spent to attack Fordow marked the longest B-2 bomber mission since the initial American assault on Afghanistan following the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
There were layers of secrecy and minute planning behind every stage of the operation. While the B-2 bombers moved towards the east, a decoy group of B-2 bombers moved towards the west.
As the attack bombers approached Iran, they were joined by support aircraft and a fleet of fighter jets. 'The B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft in a complex, tightly timed maneuver requiring exact synchronization across multiple platforms in a narrow piece of airspace, all done with minimal communications,' Gen Daniel Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in the Pentagon briefing.
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The lead B-2 bomber dropped two GBU-57 'bunker buster' munitions on the 'first of several aim points at Fordow." 'The remaining bombers then hit their targets, as well, with a total of 14 MOPs (Massive Ordnance Penetrators) dropped against two nuclear target areas,' Gen Caine added.
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