The current 37-hour aerial bombing assault on Iran’s Fordow nuclear website, titled “Operation Midnight Hammer,” had US B-2 stealth planes flying certainly one of their longest missions ever since 9/11. To be able to present consolation for the pilots and keep prolonged intervals of alertness on the lengthy round-trip flight from Missouri to Iran, these cutting-edge planes have been furnished with a spread of facilities, together with microwaves, bogs, and mini-fridges.
Departing Whiteman Air Power Base, simply north of Kansas Metropolis, the superior American bombers took an 18-hour journey world wide, needing a number of refuelings throughout flight. Every of the greater than USD 2 billion B-2s is constructed for such lengthy operations, containing an on-board rest room and room for one pilot to sleep as the opposite retains flying.
The B-2 Spirit’s expertise dependency does not cease at stealth. Its two-man crew depends on automation for prolonged missions. In “Operation Midnight Hammer,” seven B-2 bombers flew nearly radio silent, with alternating crews of relaxation and flight.
Joint Chiefs of Employees Chairman Normal Daniel Caine applauded the B-2s for his or her functionality to hitch escort and assist plane in a “advanced, tightly timed maneuver requiring actual synchronization throughout a number of platforms in a slender piece of airspace, all achieved with minimal communications.” The precision strike, which began with one lead B-2 releasing two GBU-57 “bunker buster” missiles on Fordow, was a notable operational deployment of those highly effective plane. The US Air Power now has 19 B-2s, with the bomber getting into service in 1997.