'Went in and out without anyone knowing': How US' B-2 jets flew undetected into Iranian skies and rained hellfire; explained

Time of India

3 hours ago

B-2 spirit bombers
Under a cloak of secrecy and tonnes of planning, American stealth bombers launched a surprise attack with surgical precision, unleashing a powerful blow on Iran's underground nuclear sites.
Operation Midnight Hammer saw seven B-2 Spirit bombers fly nearly 37 hours round-trip from Missouri to Iran, dropping 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on three key underground nuclear sites last week.
The attack was designed to deal a critical blow to Iran's uranium enrichment programme, in line with US President
Donald Trump
's stance that Iran cannot be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
The bombers were supported by dozens of fighter jets, aerial tankers and a submarine, and struck targets at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan with 75 precision-guided weapons. 'We devastated the Iranian nuclear program," said US secretary of defence
Pete Hegseth
, calling it an "incredible and overwhelming success."
Flying in silence: How the B-2s reached Iran unnoticed
The mission was made possible by a complex deception plan. While seven B-2 bombers flew east from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to strike Iran, another set of bombers was sent west as decoys, drawing attention from media, government officials and military spotters. Backed by stealth fighters and support aircraft, the real bombers flew across the Atlantic and Mediterranean in near radio silence, refuelling multiple times in mid-air before reaching their targets.
US Air Force General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained that the operation was so secretive that 'only an extremely small number of planners and key leaders' knew about it in advance. "Our B-2s went in and out and back without the world knowing at all," said Hegseth.
As the bombers approached Iran, a US submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles toward the Isfahan site, an hour ahead of the B-2s.
Fighter jets checked for any threats along the route, but according to Caine, "Iran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface-to-air missile systems did not see us."
Massive bunker busters and a submarine barrage
At 6:40 pm ET on Saturday (2:10 am in Iran), the lead B-2 bomber dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) on the Fordow site. The rest followed over a 25-minute window, releasing 14 bunker busters on Fordow and Natanz, while Tomahawk missiles targeted Isfahan.
All three sites are central to Iran's nuclear fuel processing.
Trump said the Fordow facility, Iran's most heavily protected nuclear site, is now 'gone'. In his address from the White House, Trump called the strike 'a spectacular military success.' He added, 'If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."
Inside the B-2: Stealth, speed and power
Each B-2 bomber costs about $2.1 billion and has a wingspan of 172 feet.
It was designed in the late 1980s, and only 21 were built. The B-2 is one of the world's most advanced military aircraft, capable of flying over 6,000 nautical miles without refuelling. It can carry over 40,000 pounds of bombs inside its stealth-coated body, including MOPs and other precision-guided weapons.
Its two-man crew benefits from high levels of automation and even a few in-flight comforts such as a toilet, refrigerator, microwave and space for one pilot to lie down while the other flies.
The 30,000-pound MOPs dropped on Fordow are the largest conventional bombs in the US arsenal, able to penetrate over 200 feet of reinforced concrete. This was their first-ever use in combat.
Numbers behind the mission
According to Pentagon figures, more than 125 aircraft participated in the mission, including stealth bombers, support planes, fighters and surveillance craft. A total of 75 precision weapons were used, including 14 bunker busters and over two dozen cruise missiles.
Initial assessments suggest that the damage to Iran's nuclear programme is severe. "Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," said Caine. Iran denied the extent of the damage and vowed to retaliate.
Operation Midnight Hammer has gone down as the largest B-2 operational strike in US history and the longest such mission since 2001.