Seven B-2 bombers flew 7,000 miles nonstop over the weekend from their air base near Kansas City, Missouri, to three targets in central Iran.
The planes are 170 feet wide and 17 feet tall, and their slim bodies have a “unique ability to penetrate an enemy’s most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets,” according to the Air Force’s website. The bombers are also designed to evade radar detection.
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Each plane dropped a 30,000-pound precision Massive Ordnance Penetrator “bunker-buster” on nuclear targets in Iran. The B-2 bombers are the only Air Force bombers that can carry the MOP on bombing missions, and each plane can carry two of the bombs.
The MOP is 20 1/2 feet in length and 31 1/2 inches in diameter, according to the Air Force. Of its 15-ton weight, 5,300 pounds of that is explosive material. The Air Force has said the MOP’s explosive power is more than 10 times that of its predecessor, the BLU-109.
The bombs are designed to penetrate 200 feet underground before exploding.
After the bombings, the planes flew back to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, landing on Sunday night. In total, they were in the air for 37 hours.
The planes can refuel midair and did so multiple times throughout the trip. They can fly up to 6,000 nautical miles without refuelling, and with aerial refuelling, the planes can reach virtually any target on the planet.
In the cockpit, all tasks are shared between the two pilots, and the aircraft is equipped with a toilet, a small refrigerator, and a microwave. There is also space for one pilot to rest while the other pilot controls the craft. Pilots take turns flying the plane in order to rest.
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Whiteman Air Force Base is home to all 19 B-2 bombers in the Air Force’s fleet. The B-2 is the most expensive military aircraft ever built, with each plane costing around $2.1 billion.
They were first manufactured in 1997. The B-2 bomber has been used for strikes in the Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars.