Catnaps, a chemical toilet and more: Inside America's 37-hour B-2 bomber mission into Iran and back

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3 days ago

Flying a 37-hour bombing mission to Iran, B-2 pilots faced extreme physical and mental stress. They prepared with sleep simulations, strict nutritional plans and chemical assistance — using sleeping pills pre-mission and amphetamines during flight. Inside a cramped cockpit, rest came in shifts, with only cots, 'piddle packs' and personal grit for support read more
Seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers from the United States Air Force embarked on a 37-hour round-trip journey from Missouri's Whiteman Air Force Base to Iranian territory and back.
The mission, targeting three fortified nuclear-related facilities in Iran, marked not just a display of military precision but also of extreme endurance.
The mission's scale was enormous. Over 125 aircraft were mobilised, including multiple bombers, surveillance platforms, fighter escorts and aerial refuelling tankers.
Of the seven B-2s involved in the strike, each aircraft carried two crew members, executing coordinated bomb runs within a tight 30-minute window over their targets.
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Although officials have not publicly confirmed specific mission details, parallels can be drawn with earlier long-range bomber operations such as the 44-hour sortie flown by now-retired US Colonel Melvin G Deaile in 2001 during the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Describing the Iran raid as 'an incredible feat,' CNN quoted Deaile who highlighted the uniqueness of seven B-2s operating over target areas simultaneously and executing independent bombing trajectories.
What goes into a 37-hour B-2 mission
Operating a B-2 Spirit over such long distances involves meticulous pre-flight conditioning for pilots. Crews assigned to missions of this length typically undergo days, sometimes weeks, of physical and mental preparation.
These include regulated sleep cycles, nutritional planning, and simulator training. Pilots are also trained to manage digestion and hydration — factors that directly affect alertness and comfort in a cockpit with minimal amenities.
'The flight doc did have what we call 'go pills' authorised for use — amphetamines,' Deaile recalled of his own Afghanistan mission, though he acknowledged policy may have changed since then.
He also described taking 'sleeping pills to help them rest in the days leading up to the bombings.'
Retired Lieutenant General Steve Basham, a former B-2 pilot who flew combat sorties during the 1999 Kosovo conflict, confirmed that the physical strain is more than incidental.
'We go through sleep studies, we actually go through nutritional education to be able to teach each one of us: one, what wakes us up and then what helps us go to sleep,' he said.
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Basham's preferred inflight meal was as unassuming as the mission was demanding: 'turkey sandwiches on wheat bread, no cheese,' to minimise digestion issues.
The compact design of the B-2 limits crew mobility. Each cockpit includes a makeshift cot tucked behind the seats where one pilot can rest while the other remains alert.
Pilots are required to be in their seats during takeoff, midair refuelling, time over hostile territory and landing — leaving little opportunity for extended rest.
Even bodily functions require creative solutions. The cockpit includes a chemical toilet without partitions, leading Deaile to explain, 'Privacy is the guy looks the other way.'
To manage hydration needs, pilots drink around a bottle of water per hour and use 'piddle packs,' absorbent bags designed to contain urine.
Deaile and his fellow pilot once amused themselves by calculating the cumulative weight of their used packs midflight — one of the few ways to pass time on a multi-day sortie.
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How the B-2 was able to stay in the air for 37 hours
Despite the B-2's design capability to fly more than 6,000 nautical miles without refuelling, most long-duration missions necessitate multiple midair refuellings.
This involves delicate manoeuvring at high altitude and in close formation with a tanker aircraft, whose refuelling boom must be blindly aligned with the bomber from behind.
Pilots can't see the boom; instead, they rely on illuminated reference markers and practiced routines. 'Refuelling is done blind,' Basham explained.
'At night, especially on moonless flights, the task becomes what Basham called 'inherently dangerous.''
Fatigue exacerbates the difficulty of these manoeuvres, particularly on the return leg of such an extended operation. The pilots' concentration must remain razor-sharp despite dwindling energy levels and erratic sleep.
'The adrenaline goes away,' Basham said. 'You try to get a little bit of rest and you still got that one last refuelling.'
Nevertheless, the prospect of returning to US airspace after hours over hostile terrain offers motivation.
'The one thing that's going to lift them up is they're going to enter the coast of the United States again and they're going to get that 'welcome home' from a US controller,' Basham added.
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The first combat use of US' most powerful bomb
Saturday's operation marked a significant moment in US military history with the first-ever combat deployment of the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
Weighing 30,000 pounds, the bomb is designed to destroy hardened underground facilities, such as the fortified installations reportedly targeted in Iran. Only the B-2 is capable of carrying these weapons due to their size and weight.
Each of the seven B-2s in the raid is believed to have carried two of these munitions, totalling over a dozen MOPs dropped in the operation.
Basham, reflecting on this unprecedented payload, remarked, 'It'll be interesting to hear from the pilots,' referencing the unusual shift in aircraft weight that occurs after releasing such enormous bombs.
Despite the increased firepower and operational intensity, Pentagon officials reported no direct engagement from Iranian defence systems.
Unlike earlier combat zones where B-2s flew amidst anti-aircraft fire or visible missile trails, this operation proceeded without a single shot being fired at either the bombers or their F-35 escorts.
The human touch behind a $2 billion aircraft
Despite its cutting-edge technology — including stealth capabilities that reduce detection by radar, heat, and sound — the success of any B-2 mission ultimately rests on its crew.
The aircraft's two-person team assumes responsibilities once distributed across larger crews on older platforms like the B-1B or B-52.
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The B-2's fly-by-wire control system, once lag-prone in its earlier iterations, has seen software improvements over the decades.
These enhancements have made precision flight and refueling operations more responsive, but the human element remains irreplaceable. 'Our pilots make it look easy, but it's far from easy,' Basham noted.
The complexity of a mission like this one extends beyond the cockpit. Hundreds of personnel on the ground worldwide are involved in mission planning, logistics, and maintenance.
From simulator operators and intelligence analysts to aircraft technicians and mission briefers, a globe-spanning support infrastructure undergirds every moment in the air.
What will replace the B-2 Spirit bombers
Though the B-2 Spirit remains an elite symbol of US airpower, its era is winding down. The US Air Force plans to replace the B-2 and B-1 fleets with at least 100 B-21 Raiders over the coming decades.
Still, with a per-hour operating cost of $65,000, the B-2 continues to deliver what other platforms cannot — deep-penetration stealth capability over great distances.
The 37-hour Iran mission demonstrated the extraordinary resilience of its pilots. As Deaile reflected from his own record-setting flight decades ago: 'We just knew that if the president made the call, we were going to fly.'
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With inputs from agencies