Inside the B-2 stealth bomber raid on Iran’s nuclear sites

Noster button, MO – Particulars from the longest large-scale B-2 bombing in historical past are solely now coming into the image, as a result of FOX Information Digital gained uncommon entry to Whiteman Air Pressure Base and the commanders who led Midnight Hammer operation that Iran hit.

In interviews on the bottom, Colonel Josh Wiitala and his crews secretly labored how 4,000 workers labored in secret to ship seven stealth bombers on a 30-hour mission to Iranian airspace-the first time that the 30,000 kilos of huge ordnance penetrator of America was utilized in combating. They referred to as the raid a flawless efficiency and supplied vibrant experiences of the strain, coaching and coordination that was wanted to get it performed.

“Now we have a low observable tradition – everybody works secretly to implement the mission,” Wiitala advised Fox Information Digital and spoke publicly for the primary time for the reason that June strikes. “It was the entire staff that labored along with the assistance of the teachings from years of workout routines.”

Whereas 1000’s supported the mission by means of upkeep, ammunition, operations and docs, 14 of the “a number of dozens of” pilots who had been educated on the B-2 Stealth Bomber finally finally drop the 30,000 kilos GBU-57 huge ordnance penetrators (Mops) on Iran’s nuclear places.

Specialists set the success of ‘Bunker Buster’ bombs that we have now fallen in nuclear places of Iran

A B-2 bomber could be seen on Whiteman Air Pressure Base on 8 September 2025. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

When deciding who went, Wiitala mentioned he gave precedence to expertise above every thing else. “This staff had flown pink flag after a pink flag, large train after large train,” he mentioned. “I noticed the crews making ready, I simply thought of what number of repetitions that they had had, how lengthy that they had educated for this. And it was a really skilled crew.”

The Colonel wouldn’t focus on any particulars, corresponding to how a lot notification the crew was given, whether or not digital warfare or different countermeasures had been used, or measurable proof for why commanders believed that the bombs had been getting their meant targets. These particulars stay categorised, in order that outsiders depend on satellite tv for pc photographs and impartial assessments for verification.

Wiitala mentioned that the chosen staff was “fired” to implement the mission. “What I advised them is:” I believe this will probably be remembered as one of the constant raids of our lives. ” They completely understood the historic nature of the mission “

Pilots got here dwelling from the 30-hour mission “utterly exhausted”, says Wiitala-It was the longest mission for large-scale bombing with seven planes. Every aircraft had two pilots, they usually took turns for 45 minutes to an hour at a time, particularly between complicated air tables. Some instances of vitality drinks on board to remain alert.

The longest fight mission for every aircraft was 44.3 hours, when pilots Al Qaeda and Taliban hit targets after the assaults of September 11, 2001. Rust intervals encompass making an attempt to turn out to be horizontal on the small piece of steel flooring behind the pilot’s seats.

Colonel Josh Wiitala speaks about driving the B-2 Stealth Bomber throughout a digital go to to Fox Information to Whiteman Air Pressure Base on 8 September 2028. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

A B-2 Stealth bomber on Whiteman Air Pressure Base, 8 September 2025. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

Operation Midnight Hammer: Historic B-2 Bomber Mission flew from Missouri to hit Iranian nuclear places

Refueling the air, in keeping with Wiitala, “is essentially the most tough stick and the helm, hand -flying piece of what we do.” The method consists of aligning so near 10 ft below a KC-135, KC-10 or KC-46 tank, the place a hose and mouthpiece attaches to the underside of the floor to a gasoline opening on the prime of the B-2. The B-2 should fly below the KC tanker for 15-Half-hour to imagine a gasoline load of as much as 167,000 kilos.

Wiitala mentioned that the “greatest second” of his 22-year-old profession was within the air power when the pilots returned safely. “After I knew that the crews had been protected, after I knew they had been in a pleasant airspace they usually had been protected. That was the largest factor for me. By way of mission success, they had been 14 weapons on objective. Once more, they had been simply impeccable achievements. So I used to be extremely pleased with how they’re extremely pleased with the entire 4,000 individuals.”

The B-2 is the one stealth aircraft on an extended distance that may put on the bombs of 30,000 pound bunker-busters. However the $ 2 billion aircraft is outdated: 20 of them have been in operation for nearly 30 years. Mixed with quickly evolving air defenses-drone swarms, long-distance-to-air missiles and sensors the B-2 constructed for an earlier era of air fights.

Frontal view of a B-2 Stealth Bomber on Whiteman Air Pressure Base on 8 September 2025. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

A B-2 bomber seen throughout the FOX Information Digital Go to at Whiteman Air Pressure Base, 8 September 2025. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

“We’re continually evolving how we rent the aircraft,” mentioned Wiitala. “It’s nonetheless a really efficient aircraft, however the B-21 is the subsequent step.”

The B-21 is anticipated to be more cost effective, lower than $ 1 billion per aircraft, and the Air Pressure is planning to purchase 175-200.

The pugs are saved on the bottom along with 500 kilos and a couple of,000 kilos of bombs. They’re maintained to be prepared to be used immediately. Weapon loaders prepare 21 days to be licensed in sustaining and loading the 30,000 kilos of bombs, which, in keeping with two metal contact factors within the physique of the plane, lock, in keeping with Chief Grasp SGT. Frank Espinoza, 509th Upkeep Group Wing Weapons Supervisor.

Those that deal with the weapon prepare each month with loading the ammunition for flight missions. Once they fall, the weapons penetrate deep into the bottom earlier than they explode. The underground bunkers of Iran had been the primary battle targets for the weapons.

Fifteen years of testing and several other iterations led to the fight model of the joke. The ultimate model has now been examined “a couple of years”, says Espinoza.

Upkeep chief Frank Espinoza explains how the huge ordnance penetrator or bunker Buster Bomb is being saved prepared for combating. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

A large ordnance penetrator, often called a Bunker Buster Bomb, on Whiteman Air Pressure Base, 8 September 2025. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

A large ordnance penetrator of 30,000 kilos on Whiteman Air Pressure Base, 8 September 2025. (Morgan Phillips/Fox Information Digital)

The bombs had been dropped on targets over two Iranian nuclear services: 12 MOPs had been dropped on the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, buried below 300 ft and two on the Natanz Nuclear Facility. Israeli air strikes eliminated Iran’s air climate, in order that American bombers create a ripe likelihood to enter Iranian airspace with a comparatively decrease threat.

A current evaluation of nuclear arms professional David Albright and a staff of researchers who analyze information from the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company (IAEA) confirmed that after American strikes, Iran has no path to provide uranium of weapons for the primary time in 15 years. “

“The army assaults have all put in Iran put in centrifuges – almost 22,000 gasoline centrifuges – destroyed on Iran’s centrifuges put in or not on it. However the researchers seen that it might be unclear how lengthy it might take earlier than Iran would purchase a nuclear weapon, as a result of the nation might not have been destroyed within the stresses.

A mural on Whiteman Air Pressure Base exhibits a large ordnance penetrator that’s dropped from a B-2-bomber. (Morgan Phillips/Foxnews Digital)

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President Donald Trump instantly acknowledged that Iran’s nuclear program was ‘utterly erased’, though skeptics and opponents of the strikes granted warning about explaining the mission a hit earlier than a definitive harm evaluation was accomplished.

Whereas Iran stopped cooperation with nuclear authorities on account of the strike, the retribution of the American troopers has been crammed in. Tehran launched a strike at an American airbase in Qatar, however knowledgeable each events upfront. No person was injured within the branches.