B-2 stealth bombers: Inside the $2 billion jet that flew across the world to strike Iran's top nuclear sites

Mint

23-06-2025

The B-2 stealth bombers that attacked the Fordow nuclear enrichment plant of Iran are equipped with microwaves, restrooms and usually a cooler for snacks to make life easier for pilots who were stuck in the cockpit for the 36-hour trip from Missouri to Iran and back.
The fleet of cutting-edge American bombers was originally designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union.
On Friday, the aircraft took off from the Whiteman Air Force Base outside Kansas City for an 18-hour ride across the world, refuelling several times in mid-air, officials told The New York Post.
To make the long trips comfortable, the high-tech bombers have their cockpits outfitted with mini refrigerators and a microwave oven to keep their crew fed and alert. The B-2 Spirit also has a restroom, similar to planes equipped for long-haul flights.
There's also enough room for one pilot to lie down and rest while the other flies the batwing jet.
The B-2 was launched 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.
According to the New York Post, the bomber, which has a wingspan of 172 feet and a crew of just two pilots, relies on automation to help complete long-haul flights.
The seven B-2 bombers deployed for operation 'Midnight Hammer' flew in complete radio silence, with their two-man crews taking turns sleeping during the tense night.
The 37 hours spent attacking Fordow marked the longest B-2 bomber mission since the initial American assault on Afghanistan following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Fordow is Iran's most important nuclear enrichment facility.'There is not another (sic) military in the world that could have done this,' President Trump wrote on Truth Social while revealing the attack on Iran.
The New York Post reported that pilots of such aircraft are trained to endure long, gruelling flights, with past crews bringing cots aboard or even full camping pads.
A fleet of fighter jets and support aircraft was deployed to meet up with the B-2s as they approached Iran.
'The B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft in a complex, tightly timed manoeuvre requiring exact synchronisation 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, told the New York Post.
The 25-minute operation inside Iran began on Saturday at 6:40 PM ET, with a lead B-2 bomber dropping two GBU-57 'bunker buster' munitions on the 'first of several aim points at Fordow,' Caine said.
It marked the first time that the US used the massive, 15-ton GBU-57 bunker buster bombs in a military attack, the report said.