The suspense mounts concerning the whereabouts of a US B-2 Spirit stealth bomber that allegedly has not returned to base after a mission thought to have struck Iranian nuclear services. The US Division of Protection supplied no definitive phrase on the situation of the plane, fueling rampant hypothesis.
This contradiction is at odds with a Pentagon announcement on June 23 that each one US B-2 stealth bombers that took half in “Operation Midnight Hammer,” bombing Iranian nuclear vegetation, had returned to American soil, touching down close to Whiteman Air Pressure Base in Missouri.
But it surely has now emerged that the standing of a minimum of one in every of these B-2 bombers stays unsure. Two units of B-2 Spirit bombers flew out of Whiteman Air Pressure Base in Missouri on June 21, based on experiences. One group of an unknown variety of B-2s flew west throughout the Pacific Ocean in direction of an airbase of strategic significance in Guam. In the meantime, one other group of seven B-2 planes flew in a course east, to bomb Iranian nuclear services.
The second wave of seven B-2s efficiently attacked Iranian nuclear vegetation in Fordo and Natanz, dropping 14 GBU-57 MOP bunker buster bombs. The 2 factories have been mentioned to be destroyed within the raid. These planes later flew again residence after a continuous flight interval of 37 hours.
Emergency Touchdown In Hawaii Raises Questions
Little is thought concerning the preliminary batch of B-2s, whose mission was to disorient Iranian defenses. It has just lately come to mild that a minimum of one B-2 from this batch had an emergency touchdown at Daniel Ok. Inouye Worldwide Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii. The airport is located near Hickam Air Pressure Base, and the stealth bomber has been stranded there for some days, based on experiences.
When the precise assaults in opposition to Iran’s nuclear services occurred, various Iranian social media handles reported that Iran had downed an American airplane. The claims have been later rejected by then-President Trump and the US Air Pressure.
Earlier than the assault, on June 21 because the Iran-Israel escalation worsened, information got here of a squadron of B-2 fight plane flying west out of Whiteman Air Pressure Base. Reuters reported on the time that the U.S. was to deploy B-2 bombers on Guam, a significant US navy base within the Pacific that’s used primarily as a house base for F-22s, C-17s, and KC-135s, to help U.S. navy actions within the Indo-Pacific space.
Flight monitoring data confirmed {that a} minimal of two particular person B-2 Spirit bomber flights, using name indicators MYTEE 11 and MYTEE 21, took off from Whiteman Air Pressure Base, escorted by aerial refueling tankers. Information the subsequent morning emerged that the US bombed Iranian nuclear services with B-2 Spirits. It was solely realised afterwards that whereas a gaggle of B-2s flew westward throughout the Pacific (the decoy operation), one other group flew eastward throughout the Atlantic, really performing the true mission. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) networks extensively lined and tracked the trail of the primary group with out realizing concerning the secret mission of the second.
Now, there are experiences that one of many planes that have been headed in direction of the Pacific has but to reach on the vacation spot. Skilled pilot David Martin posted a quick video clip of a B-2 bomber grounded at Honolulu Airport, name signal MYTEE 14. The main points concerning the motive for the emergency touchdown or the time it’s going to take for repairs are usually not accessible.
Air Pressure Silence Fuels Hypothesis
As for the B-2 bomber in Hawaii, there was additionally a report posted on The Warfare Zone (TWZ) web site. Charles Hoffman, Air Pressure World Strike Command’s Media Operations boss, knowledgeable TWZ, “We don’t touch upon navy, plane motion, deployment, or posturing.” The US Air Pressure’s silence about this touchdown is holding alive the intensifying thriller: Why did this airplane must make an emergency touchdown, and why is it nonetheless in Hawaii?
Hoffman went on to say, “Air Pressure World Strike Command retains the potential to execute world strike operations anyplace, at any time, on the President of the USA’ discretion.” Our forces stand at all times ready to function individually or built-in in entirety with our many allies and companions.”
B-2 bombers are additionally notorious for needing a number of upkeep and are reaching the tip of their operational lives, with nearly all of the USAF B-2 fleet being shut to a few a long time previous. The planes are to get replaced by the extra fashionable B-21 Raider stealth bombers. Solely 21 B-2 bombers have been initially constructed, and solely 19 are nonetheless in service following two being destroyed in crashes.