The B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, which cost billions of dollars to build, played a central role in America’s Operation Midnight Hammer strike on a trio of nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described Operation Midnight Hammer, which targeted Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites, as the “largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history” and the “second longest B-2 mission ever flown,” during a Sunday press conference.
The B-2 bombers carry a $2.1 billion price tag per plane, according to The New York Times.
The “flying-wing”-shaped bombers feature “low-observable technology and all-altitude capability to penetrate the most sophisticated air defenses in nuclear and conventional missions,” maker Northrup Grumman explains on its website.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOC | NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP. | 497.70 | +3.05 | +0.62% |
USAF GENERAL TALKS ‘REMARKABLE’ AIRCRAFT NEEDED FOR 30,000 LB BOMB DROPPED ON IRAN NUKE SITE
Characteristics of the B-2 bombers include the materials they are made out of, the special coatings they have and their unique shape, as well as a “reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures” help make the planes stealthy, according to the U.S. Air Force.
The aircraft has a wingspan of 172 feet and can carry payloads of over 40,000 pounds. Without refueling, their range is 6,000 nautical miles.
During Operation Midnight Hammer, a “large B-2 strike package” of the bombers took off from the U.S., with some of them heading “west and into the Pacific as a decoy” and seven traveling 18 hours “into the target area” in the Middle East, according to Caine.
“Throughout the 18-hour flight into the target area, the aircraft completed multiple in-flight refuelings,” he said. “Once over land, 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.”
A FULL BREAKDOWN OF OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER, THE ‘LARGEST B-2 OPERATIONAL STRIKE IN US HISTORY’
The bombers dropped bunker-busting GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrator weapons on Fordow and Natanz, according to Caine. Estimates suggest those bombs cost upwards of $5 million each, The New York Times reported.
Tomahawk missiles fired from an American submarine also hit Isfahan during the operation, hitting “key surface infrastructure targets” at that nuclear site, Caine said.
He told the media that the Operation Midnight Hammer “strike package,” including the B-2 Spirit bombers and other aircraft, departed Iranian airspace after the strikes without any known shots being fired at them while leaving.
The cost of flying B-2 stealth bombers could be around $130,000 to $150,000 per hour, according to The New York Times.
“More than 125 U.S. aircraft participated in this mission, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth and fifth generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and a full array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operational professionals,” Caine said.
President Donald Trump, in a Sunday TruthSocial post, said the damage that the Iranian nuclear sites suffered was “said to be ‘monumental’” and praised the “great skill” demonstrated by the U.S. military.
He also reported the “GREAT” B-2 pilots returned safely to Missouri, saying, “Thank you for a job well done!!!”
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