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New Straits Times
13-07-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Patriots limit 'Trump doctrine'
AS some 20 Iranian ballistic missiles headed for the United States air base at Al Udeid in Qatar last month following US strikes against Iran, the only US personnel at the almost entirely evacuated base were some 40 air defence personnel manning a Patriot missile battery flown in a few weeks earlier. According to a press briefing by US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Daniel Caine, a few days later, together with another Patriot detachment from the Qatari military also present at the base, the US team fired more of the defence missiles than in any previous engagement since the system was first deployed in the first Gulf War in 1991. "They crushed it," he said, noting that damage to the base was minimal with no casualties. On the surface, officials from the Trump administration have painted last month's US strikes against Iran as an unusually decisive use of US power, talking of a new "Trump doctrine" in which military force is used with much clearer aims than under previous presidents. They argue it has "restored American deterrence", sending a clear signal to other potential foes, including Moscow and Beijing. The administration had also presented its 52-day bombing campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen as being similarly successful in restoring freedom of navigation there — only for the Houthis to restart attacks on shipping in recent days. All of that comes amid growing divisions within the administration over the future use of US military force. On that front, recent events in the Gulf have had consequences in Washington and beyond. According to reports last week, the US has barely 25 per cent of the Patriot missile stockpile the Pentagon believes it needs. Consumption of those missiles in the Middle East and Ukraine has made growing those stocks impossible despite heightened production. Last week, that prompted a Pentagon edict stopping shipment of several weapons types to Ukraine, including Patriot, long-range HIMARS strike rockets and artillery shells, described at the time as a deliberate decision to help rebuild US stocks. That decision, however, has since been reversed by President Donald Trump amid reports it had never received White House authorisation in the first place. "We have to," Trump told a press conference in Washington. "They have to be able to defend themselves." The US president has become increasingly critical of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in recent days, accusing him of being uninterested in Trump's efforts to mediate a peace deal as Russian forces have launched the largest drone strikes of the war against Ukraine. That will likely worry the powerful group within the current administration known as "the restrainers", keen to rein in the multi-decade US tendency to make open-ended defence commitments. On one side are several top US commanders who argue Ukraine should be supported as its defeat could embolden Moscow and Beijing to launch future attacks. On the other are individuals, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon No. 3 civilian official Elbridge Colby, who have argued publicly that too much support to Ukraine helps China by driving down already limited US weapons stocks. Ironically, the restrainers — including Vice-President JD Vance, among the most publicly committed US officials to reducing America's overseas military footprint — had been among the most supportive of Trump's actions on Iran. "Number one: you articulate a clear American interest ... in this case, that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. "Number two, you try to aggressively diplomatically solve that problem. "Number three, when you can't solve it diplomatically, you use overwhelming military power to solve it and then you get the hell out of there before it becomes a protracted conflict," Vance told an Ohio fundraising dinner last month. Another even more significant challenge is that the threats the US now most needs to deter — a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, or a Russian assault into Eastern Europe — are likely impossible to counter through a single US strike. Instead, Trump or his successors would likely face a choice between either unleashing a massive open-ended US conventional military campaign — at the very least an air, drone and missile offensive against advancing Russian or Chinese forces — or abandoning Taiwan and eastern European allies to their fate.
Reuters
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
The ever-evolving 'Trump doctrine' and the fight for US strategy
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) - As some 20 Iranian ballistic missiles headed for the U.S. airbase at Al Udeid in Qatar last month following U.S. strikes against Iran, the only U.S. personnel at the almost entirely evacuated base were some 40 air defence personnel manning a Patriot missile battery flown in a few weeks earlier. According to a press briefing by U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Daniel Caine, a few days later, together with another Patriot detachment from the Qatari military also present at the base, the U.S. team fired more of the defence missiles than in any previous engagement since the system was first deployed in the first Gulf War in 1991. 'They crushed it,' he said, noting that damage to the base was minimal with no casualties. On the surface, officials from the Trump administration have painted last month's U.S. strikes against Iran as an unusually decisive use of U.S. power, talking of a new 'Trump doctrine' in which military force is used with much clearer aims than under previous presidents. They argue it has 'restored American deterrence', sending a clear signal to other potential foes including Moscow and Beijing. The administration had also presented its 52-day bombing campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen as being similarly successful in restoring freedom of navigation there – only for the Houthis to restart attacks on shipping in recent days. All of that comes amid growing divisions within the administration over the future use of U.S. military force, while still leaving open questions over how the U.S. might respond to potential future crises, particularly a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or Russia attack on eastern NATO states. On that front, recent events in the Gulf have already had consequences in Washington and beyond. According to reports this week, the U.S. has barely 25% of the Patriot missile stockpile the Pentagon believes it needs. Consumption of those missiles in the Middle East and Ukraine has made growing those stocks impossible despite heightened production. Last week, that prompted a Pentagon edict stopping shipment of several weapons types to Ukraine including Patriot, long-range HIMARS strike rockets and artillery shells, described at the time as a deliberate decision to help rebuild U.S. stocks. That decision, however, has since been reversed by President Donald Trump amid reports it had never received White House authorisation in the first place. 'We have to,' Trump told a press conference in Washington. 'They have to be able to defend themselves.' The U.S. president has become increasingly critical of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in recent days, accusing him of being uninterested in Trump's efforts to mediate a peace deal as Russian forces have launched the largest drone strikes of the war against Ukraine. That will likely worry the powerful group within the current administration known as 'the restrainers', keen to rein in the multi-decade U.S. tendency to make open-ended defence commitments and become entangled in long-running 'forever wars'. The result is several increasingly apparent divisions over policy, between them opening up huge uncertainties over future U.S. military posture. On one side are those including several top U.S. military commanders who argue Ukraine should be supported as its defeat would likely empower Moscow and Beijing to launch future attacks. On the other are individuals including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon number three civilian official Elbridge Colby who have argued publicly that sending too much support to Ukraine helps China by driving down already limited U.S. weapons stocks. Ironically, that group – including Vice President JD Vance, among the most publicly committed U.S. officials to reducing America's overseas military footprint – had been among the most supportive of Trump's actions on Iran, presenting it as an example of a new and much more limited approach to U.S. intervention. "What I call the Trump Doctrine is quite simple," Vance told an Ohio fundraising dinner last month. "Number one: you articulate a clear American interest ... in this case, that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. Number two, you try to aggressively diplomatically solve that problem. Number three, when you can't solve it diplomatically, you use overwhelming military power to solve it and then you get the hell out of there before it becomes a protracted conflict.' Attempting to classify Trump's presidential decisions within a defined doctrine, however, still brings several challenges. The first is the man himself, who as far back as the 1980s was describing his unpredictability and habit of making last-minute decisions on investments as a central tenet of his 'Art of the Deal'. More recently since taking office, attempts to lock him into one course of action can readily backfire and lead to him endorsing another. Another even more significant challenge is that the threats the United States now most needs to deter – a potential Chinese attack against Taiwan, or a Russian assault into Eastern Europe – are likely impossible to counter through a single U.S. strike. Instead, Trump or his successors would likely face a choice between either unleashing a massive open-ended U.S. conventional military campaign – at the very least an air, drone and missile offensive against advancing Russian or Chinese forces – or abandoning Taiwan and eastern European allies to their fate. In his first term in office and also early in last year's presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly questioned whether European NATO members deserved U.S. protection if they were not spending enough on their own defence. But audio recently released of a fundraising speech last year showed him claiming he had taken a much tougher line with both Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in private, warning he would launch U.S. military action if they attacked Taiwan or Ukraine, neither of which has a binding defence treaty with the United States. "If you go into Ukraine, I'm going to bomb the shit out of Moscow. I'm telling you I have no choice," Trump said he told Putin on an undisclosed date. "And then he goes, like, 'I don't believe you'," Trump continued. "But the truth is he believed me 10%." He said he also made a similar threat to Xi: 'He thought I was crazy,' Trump told his fellow diners, adding that he believed that even if they only believed him 'five or ten percent' the deterrent was effective. Since that audio was released, some have questioned whether the conversations Trump described ever took place – his former national security adviser John Bolton said he was aware of no such conversations before his own 2019 government departure. If they did take place, however – or even if they did not but reflect his broader conclusions over the necessity to sometimes threaten or use force – it would broadly reflect the experience of previous presidents as well as Trump's own record during his first administration. In the aftermath of World War Two, presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy all wrestled with the challenge of confronting both the Soviet Union and Communist China, particularly after the perception the U.S. would not come to the aid of South Korea was seen as having inadvertently led to the start of the Korean War in 1951. Their conclusion, often quite reluctantly, was that to avoid further bloodshed and perhaps escalation to catastrophic global war they must deepen commitments to threatened U.S. allies, including warning the U.S. would use conventional or atomic force to protect them if attacked. On several occasions in his first term, Trump authorised U.S. action on a scale that might have been rejected by the Obama or Biden administrations – but which those around the president believe were successful in at least partially deterring and restraining adversary behaviour.
India Today
23-06-2025
- General
- India Today
B-2 stealth bombers used to attack Iran have beds, toilets, microwaves
At least six B-2 stealth bombers were deployed for Operation Midnight Hammer to strike three nuclear sites in Iran. The troops took off for a 37-hour flight across the globe, from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on June 20, all the way to Iran and June 21, the strike took all of 25 minutes. But these long-haul operations test the troops' despite being a warplane, the B-2 stealth bomber is equipped with a bed, a toilet, a microwave, and a mini-fridge to make the journey more manageable for the crew. The cockpit is outfitted with a space where one pilot can lie down while the other flies, helping the two-person crew manage the demanding journey. The bombers refuelled several times mid-air, officials told the New York also has a microwave and a mini-fridge for snacks, to help the pilots remain well-fed in long-duration strategic bombing B-2 costs more than USD 2 billion, and the US Air Force currently operates 19 of them, after losing one in a 2008 bomber aircraft do not have such luxuries, but there are exceptions, especially for long-range strategic bombers like the US B-2 Spirit or B-52 Stratofortress, which are designed for missions lasting 24 plus the seven bombers departed on Friday from Whiteman, near Kansas City, layers of secrecy and minute planning camouflaged Operation Midnight ABOUT B-2 BOMBERS USED BY THE USAs the B-2s neared Iranian airspace, a US submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles to neutralise key defences. Moments later, the stealth bombers dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, 30,000-pound bunker-busters, on three of Iran's main nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and mission, conducted in near-total radio silence, was the longest B-2 deployment since the initial US strike on Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks. The two pilots took turns resting during the 37-hour round trip, reported The UK built to deliver nuclear bombs to the Soviet Union, the B-2 Spirit has a wingspan of 172 feet and carries just two pilots. It relies heavily on automation to complete missions that can last nearly two the real B-2 bombers moved eastward, a decoy group flew west to mislead any potential observers."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," US General Daniel Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in the Pentagon undergo special training to endure such extreme missions, sometimes bringing along cots or even full camping pads, according to The they approached Iranian airspace, the bombers were joined by a fleet of escort and support aircraft to ensure the success of the final phase."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," said Gen. Daniel Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."The remaining bombers then hit their targets, as well, with a total of 14 MOPs (Massive Ordnance Penetrators) dropped against two nuclear target areas," he marked the first time when the US has deployed the massive 15-ton GBU-57 bunker buster in combat.- Ends
Time of India
23-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
37 hours to target: Inside the US B-2 bomber's Fordow mission — complete with snacks, a microwave, and a toilet
The pilots of the US Air Force's B-2 stealth bombers, who were strapped into their seats for 37 straight hours for Operation Midnight Hammer , weren't just armed with 'bunker buster' bombs, they also had something a bit more comforting: a microwave, a small cooler stocked with snacks, and a toilet, as per a report. Operation Midnight Hammer: From Missouri to Iran and Back Seven B-2 bombers lifted off from Whiteman Air Force Base outside Kansas City late Friday night, embarking on a journey to strike Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment plant , a target buried deep beneath a mountain, as per the report by New York Post. The bomber flew in radio silence, refuelled several times in midair, and navigated through tightly coordinated skies, escorted by fighter jets and support aircraft as they approached Iranian airspace, according to the report. Inside the B-2 Cockpit As per the New York Post, the high-tech bombers have cockpits, which are fitted with mini refrigerators and a microwave oven to keep the two pilot crew fed and alert, there is also enough space for one pilot to lie down and rest while the other flies the jet. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Effective Way to Support a Flatter Stomach After 50 Lulutox The Strike While the B-2 first service started in 1997, with each one costing over $2 billion, the 37 hours spent to attack Fordow was its longest mission since the initial American assault on Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, reported New York Post. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lt. Gen. Daniel Caine said, '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,' quoted New York Post. Live Events Caine shared that the 25-minute operation inside Iran began at 6:40 p.m. ET Saturday, with a lead B-2 bomber dropping two GBU-57 'bunker buster' munitions on the 'first of several aim points at Fordow,' reported New York Post. He also mentioned that 'The remaining bombers then hit their targets, as well, with a total of 14 MOPs (Massive Ordnance Penetrators) dropped against two nuclear target areas,' as quoted in the report. FAQs How long was the B-2 mission to Iran? The entire mission lasted 37 hours, one of the longest in B-2 history. What comforts do B-2 pilots have on long missions? They have a microwave, a mini fridge with snacks, and a toilet onboard, as per New York Post report.
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
B-2 Bombers with microwaves, beds & restrooms fly 37 hours to hit Iran's Fordow; here's all about the $2 billion jet
The B-2 stealth bombers that targeted Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment facility recently completed a 36-hour round trip from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The aircraft, originally designed to carry nuclear payloads during the Cold War, were deployed in 'Operation Midnight Hammer.' This is the longest B-2 mission since the 2001 assault on Afghanistan, with the fleet flying in radio silence for most of the journey. President Donald Trump confirmed the mission via a post on Truth Social, stating, 'There is not another military in the world that could have done this.' Inside the aircraft: Comfort for long hauls To support the long-duration flight, the B-2 bombers are equipped with onboard amenities such as a microwave, mini-refrigerator, and a built-in restroom. The cockpit also has enough space for one pilot to lie down while the other controls the aircraft. These adjustments allow the two-member crew to remain operational during extensive missions. Previous crews reportedly brought sleeping pads or cots for similar endurance introduced in 1997, each B-2 bomber costs over $2 billion. The U.S. Air Force currently has 19 in active service, down from 20 after a crash in 2008. The B-2 relies heavily on automated systems and has a wingspan of 172 feet. B-2 Spirit Stealth BomberNickname: 'Spirit' (so cool) Precision coordination with escort aircraft According to Gen. Daniel Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the bombers were joined by fighter jets and support aircraft before entering Iranian airspace. These aircraft coordinated their timing and positioning in a narrow air corridor, using minimal communication. The strike inside Iran began at 6:40 PM ET on Saturday and lasted about 25 minutes. The lead B-2 dropped two 15-ton GBU-57 'bunker buster' bombs on designated targets within the Fordow complex. This operation marked the first known use of the GBU-57 in combat, according to a report in The New York Post. The Fordow mission shows the continued global reach and coordination ability of the U.S. military, with B-2 bombers executing one of their most demanding operations to date.
