The US military on Wednesday used fighter jets, including B-2 stealth bombers, to attack five underground weapons facilities in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Houthi militias, in a warning to Tehran. It is possible that it also served as
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin said President Biden ordered the airstrikes to “further reduce the Houthis’ ability” to attack ships and disrupt trade flows in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Austin did not mention Iran, but the rare use of the B-2 against the Houthis, the only aircraft capable of attacking Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities, is a sign of tensions between Israel and Iran. It was noteworthy at a time when tensions are threatening to spill over. A full-scale war.
“This is an opportunity for the United States to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of their reach, no matter how deeply buried, fortified, or fortified they are,” Austin said in a statement late Wednesday night. “It was a unique demonstration of our capabilities.” “The adoption of the U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bomber demonstrates America’s global strike capability to take action against these targets whenever and wherever needed.”
A statement from U.S. Central Command on Wednesday night said U.S. Navy “assets” would also take part in the attack, and that the Tampa, Florida-based force had “a variety of advanced It was fired against conventional weapons.” The same applies to civilian ships sailing on the high seas. ”
Attacking so-called hardened burial sites typically requires the use of specially manufactured bombs that have a much thicker steel casing and lower explosive content than similarly sized general-purpose bombs. These “bunker buster” bombs have heavy casings that allow them to penetrate soil, rock, or concrete before detonating, leaving the ammunition intact.
The B-2 is the only fighter aircraft capable of carrying the largest weapon of its class in the Pentagon’s inventory. It’s a 30,000-pound GPS-guided weapon called the GBU-57 Mass Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which contains the equivalent of approximately 5,600 rounds of ammunition. Pounds of TNT. A Pentagon spokeswoman declined to say whether that weapon was used in Wednesday’s attack.
According to publicly available documents, the Air Force had authorized the production of only 20 such bombs in 2015, and in 2012, five were tested at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. spent. According to the Air Force website, the weapon is capable of reaching Hits targets up to 200 feet underground before exploding.
The U.S. arsenal also includes 5,000- and 2,000-pound penetrating bombs that can be dropped by other fighter jets.
The Air Force is believed to have only 19 operational B-2 bombers, all permanently stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, but the Pentagon occasionally sends a few to military exercises in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. is being deployed.
For the B-2 bombers to take part in Wednesday’s attack, the aircraft would have had to fly round trip from Missouri to Yemen and refuel in the air, or take off from a base much closer to its target.
“For operational security reasons, we do not discuss operational locations within the region,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Rider said in response to a question about where the B-2s were launched in Wednesday’s attack. said.
Last year, the Houthis began targeting civilian tankers and cargo ships at sea in solidarity with Hamas. Since mid-November, the U.S. military has shot down dozens of Houthi attack drones and anti-ship missiles fired at civilian commercial vessels. It also frequently carries out airstrikes against Houthi missile and radar facilities.
