The US Air Force (USAF) has released video footage of its Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bombers beginning their intercontinental strike mission to Iran.
Seven of the iconic flying-wing jets launched from Whiteman AFB in the continental USA late on 20 June, transiting across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea to drop bunker-busting precision munitions on two sites connected to Iran’s nuclear weapons development programme. A third site was struck with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The non-stop sortie was a round trip of approximately 36h, with the bombers and their fighter escorts supported by dozens of tanker aircraft.
Footage released by the USAF’s 509th Bomb Wing on 23 June shows multiple B-2s preparing for the mission. Shot through a low-light night vision lens, the video reveals several B-2s staged in hangars, before taxiing out to an unidentified runway.
At least three stealth bombers can be seen launching in quick succession, identifiable only by their wing-tip safety lights appearing as green dots in the night vision field of view.
The footage then cuts to daylight, with three of the B-2s on approach and landing at what appears to be the main runway at Whiteman AFB – home to the entire B-2 fleet, which includes just 20 examples.
The caption specifies the bombers landed at Whiteman on 22 June.
While seven B-2s crossed the Atlantic to carry out the strikes, a separate flight of the stealth bombers flew west toward the US Pacific Island of Guam, in what the Pentagon describes as a diversionary tactic.
It is unclear if the B-2s shown in the footage are the bombing aircraft or those used in the feint.
The Pentagon says more than 125 aircraft and 75 precision munitions were employed in the long-range bombing raid, which represented the largest B-2 combat sortie in history.
