'Brightest blast I've ever seen': Fighter pilot recalls Iran strike by B-2 bombers; US shares chilling new details about Operation Midnight Hammer

Time of India

4 hours ago

The US military has revealed new details about the strike on Iran's nuclear site at Fordo, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine recounting the dramatic return of the B-2 crews and the years of secret planning behind the mission dubbed 'Operation Midnight Hammer'.
'This was the brightest explosion I've ever seen—it looked like daylight,' one pilot told Caine after watching the massive 30,000-pound bunker-buster detonate. The crew had taken off not knowing if they would return. When they landed, 'flags were flying and tears were flowing,' Caine said, describing the emotional moment at Whiteman Air Force Base.
"A crew member told me when I talked to them on video the other day that this felt like the Super Bowl, the thousands of scientists, airmen, and maintainers all coming together," Caine said.
Operation Midnight Hammer targeted Iran's key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The US deployed 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs — steel-encased, fused to detonate at precise depths.
Fordow, built deep underground, had two ventilation routes. Each route had three shafts, a main one flanked by two smaller ones, resembling a pitchfork in Pentagon imagery. Days before the strike, Iran placed concrete slabs over these shafts.
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Undo
According to Caine, the bombs were refined over years of testing on mock facilities. The aim was to delay detonation until the bomb could release a pressure wave through tunnels, destroying underground enrichment equipment.
A strike years in the making
Caine outlined the story of two unnamed officers from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), who had studied the Fordo site for over 15 years.
'In 2009, a DTRA officer was brought into a vault at an undisclosed location and shown images of major construction in the Iranian mountains,' he said.
The officer, and later a teammate, spent years tracking the site's geology, airflow systems, construction materials, and movement of equipment in and out of the complex.
'They literally dreamed about this target,' Caine said. 'They thought about it driving to work. From the first days, they knew what it was for. You don't build a multilayered underground bunker with centrifuges in a mountain for any peaceful purpose.'
Their long effort highlighted one central challenge: the US did not yet have a weapon capable of destroying such a site. So they began working with industry to develop what became the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, Caine said.
Testing the GBU-57 for one target
Hundreds of tests were conducted to ensure the weapon would work.
'They tested it over and over again. Dropped full-scale weapons on realistic targets. All for one purpose—kill this target at the time and place of our choosing,' said Caine.
Then, in June, the call came from President Trump: execute the mission.
Operation Midnight Hammer was launched. Crews from the active-duty Air Force and Missouri Air National Guard carried out the mission, departing on Friday and returning Sunday.
Caine described what followed: 'Late Saturday night, their families became aware of what was happening. On Sunday, when the jets returned from Whiteman, their families were there, flags flying, and tears flowing.
A commander told me, 'This is a moment in the lives of our families they will never forget.''
Jets flew in formation over the base before landing. 'That, my friends, is what America's Joint Force does,' said Caine.
Inside the strike zone
There was no visible crater at Fordo by design. The GBU-57 is built to penetrate deep before detonating.
'All six weapons hit exactly where they were intended,' Caine confirmed, targeting each vent shaft of the underground complex.
'The primary kill mechanism was a mix of overpressure and blast, ripping through the tunnels and destroying critical hardware.'
He said the damage was consistent with extensive modelling, with shockwaves amplifying destruction in the facility's confined spaces.
US confident, Iran disputes impact
President Trump has described the outcome as 'total obliteration,' with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissing media reports that the damage may have been overstated.
However, Iran has disputed the scale of the strike's impact. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said the US had 'exaggerated' its success, insisting it did 'nothing significant' to the programme. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called the damage 'serious' but refused to confirm the programme was crippled.
Despite Iranian denials, the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed 'extensive damage' at Fordo and other sites, including Natanz and Isfahan.