B-2 Stealth Bomber at War (From the Lexington Policy Papers)

Only the B-2 could strike Iran’s nuclear targets. The B-2s of the 509th Bomb Wing build on their extensive combat record, including a 44-hour round-trip mission from the United States to Afghanistan. Seven times the B-2 has gone to war, including Iran: over Kosovo and Serbia in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011 and 2017. Campaigns ranged from 78 days to just 48 hours. In October 2024, the B-2s also conducted strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. Read details of their early campaigns by PDF here.

The B-2 Stealth Bomber at War details the target sets and strategic roles of the world’s only stealth bomber. Originally intended to replace the B-52 in the nuclear deterrent triad, the B-2 first flew in 1989. The B-2 program was cut back after the Cold War and only 21 B-2s were built, with 19 remaining in the force. The B-2 can deliver an array of precision weapons loads ranging from 80 500-lb. bombs to two of the 30,000-lb. GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

B-2 pilots have trained to fly missions as long as 72 hours. The crew of two pilots take along lunchboxes, and lawn chairs for naps on intercontinental missions. In October 2001, the B-2 flew a 44.3 hour mission from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, to strike targets in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. B-2s launched from Whiteman then stopped at Diego Garcia to change crews. On the small atoll in the Indian Ocean the 509th had prepositioned fresh crews, maintainers – and food.

For the Afghanistan missions, planners at the air operations center communicated directly with B-2s in flight, changing targets when required.

Here’s how the longest mission unfolded. It was night two of Operation Enduring Freedom’s air campaign to retaliate against Taliban targets in Afghanistan after 9/11. Major Melvin Deaille and Captain Brian Neal were in the cockpit of Spirit of America, the last B-2 delivered. They took off from Missouri and flew west, meeting tankers over California, Hawaii and Guam. The Pacific crossing alone took
24 hours. “The idea was we service four targets, then come out of country,” recalled Deaille. Their B-2 spent two hours in country creating synthetic aperture radar maps to fine-tune strikes for 12 of its 16 JDAMs. “We exited, we still had JDAMs retained. We were tasked to go find a tanker, go back in and service another target, which is again, the flexibility,” said Deaille. All told, “70% of targets changed from the moment we took off. 5 target areas in one mission.”

When the Spirit of America landed at Diego Garcia, the crew logged in their mission at 44.3 hours – the longest in history. As for the B-2 itself, a mere 45 minutes for fuel and oil and it was back in the air with a fresh crew. This B-2 ran its engines for 70 hours before returning home to Whiteman.

“The stealth aspect – this is an aircraft that has a penetration capability like no other. We can exit,
get gas and go back in without worrying about escort. But it also requires some human ingenuity and tactics to get a stealth aircraft to the target. Those are the things that make a B-2 and that mission unique from the standpoint of what we did that night,” summed up Deaille.

B-2s struck 600 targets during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, using their stealth tactics to penetrate Iraq’s air defenses. Targets ranged from air defense sites to direct attacks on Iraqi Republican Guard army divisions near Baghdad.

In 2017, three B-2s struck terrorist targets in Libya. The B-2s had to loiter as targets developed adding up to 34 hours in the air courtesy of 15 aerial refueling tankers to supported the 30-hour round trip mission. “Our goal was to find the aircraft to do the mission,” said Lt. Col. James Hadley, 18th Air Force operations planner. “The mobility enter- prise flexed to put tankers from the U.S., U.S. European and U.S. Central Commands toward this effort.”

The B-21 Raider will in time replace the B-2. The AIr Force is dependent on stealth, long-range strike and requirements call for at least 140 of the B-21s, to be produced as quickly as possible.