B-2 Spirit, or "invisible" bombers who are considered the most costly military aircraft in the world, GBU-57 penetration bombs penetrating rocks and reinforced concrete, maneuvering Tomahawks, a hoax operation... The June attack by the U.S. Armed Forces on atomic facilities in Iran will go back to past and will long be material for military analysts.
The United States has decided to attack key facilities related to the Iranian atomic programme, as Israeli aviation conducting specified activities did not have adequate capabilities. The American operation was precisely planned.
Let us remind you, in the week before the night attack of June 22 The Americans sent crucial military forces to the mediate East: USS "Nimitz" aircraft carrier with F/A-18E/F and F-35C aircraft, as well as F-16, F-22 and F-35A fighters and B-2 Spirit bombers owned by the US Air Force. Subsequent shifts of units signalled that the Americans were trying to exert force on Iran and at the same time accumulate appropriate military possible if president Donald Trump gave an order to attack. At the time, the U.S. leader officially suggested that he had not yet made his decision... According to experts, the June conflict, which began on 13 June with a amazing Israel hits Iran was the first always to usage artificial intelligence to make false information and images that flooded the Internet. any of them distributed Russian networks that tried to undermine, among others, the effectiveness of Western weapons utilized against Iran.
The surprise origin was an crucial component of the operation due to the fact that the possible targets of the attack were widely known. The Americans managed to accomplish it through misinformation. 125 aircraft took part in Operation Midnight Hammer. But not all of them were headed for the target. any of them led actions to distract Iranians from the main forces and mislead them. The Americans most likely utilized 9 B-2 Spirit bombers. However, just before the attack, authoritative communications suggested that a large number of them were being transferred from Whiteman Air Base, Missouri by the Pacific to the Diego Garcia atoll base in the Indian Ocean. In fact, there were most likely only 2 machines active in this hoax. Meanwhile, a group of 7 B-2 planned to attack atomic objects in Iran flew in the other direction across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. And – if it was not another misinformation – then they flew over Israel, Syria and Iraq.
To guarantee the surprise effect, American bombers did not land in any of the air bases in Europe or the mediate East. B-2 stayed in the air for about 36 hours (the flight itself from Missouri to Iran lasted 18 hours)! This enabled the fuel supply flying tankers KC-135 and KC-46. However, it should be noted that these bombers are prepared for long-term missions. Their compartment is spacious adequate that the 2 pilots making up the crew have space there to remainder in turns. There's a toilet at their disposal, and I hear... Microwave!
The main mark of the B-2 bombers was a atomic facility in Fordo protected by a layer of rocks of respective decades thick. For this reason, it could not have been destroyed by the bombs and missiles carried by multitasking aircraft of Israel. Six American machines dropped a twelve GBU-57 penetration bombs, each weighing 13,600 kg. A single bomber attacked a atomic facility in Natanz. Although Israelis have paralyzed Iran's aviation and ground air defense, it is improbable that B-2 flew over Iran without an escort likely to have been F-22 and F-35 fighters. Like Spirit – hard to detect.
The hit on Iran was the combat debut of the most powerful in the American arsenal of the conventional GBU-57 air bomb. This weapon was developed on the basis of experiences from the war with Iraq in 2003, erstwhile it turned out that USF's bombs to destruct bunkers did not have adequate power. What is the uniqueness of the GBU-57? It's a precision weapon equipped with a GPS/INS navigation strategy that allows it to drop within miles of the target, and only B-2 bombers can carry it. After modernization in their bomb chambers there is area for 2 GBU-57s.
Americans to make GBU-57 utilized the BLU-127 air bomb as an explosive element. 1 of its variants has a warhead that contains 2 types of explosive charge – 2082 kg of kind AFX-757 and 341 kg of polymer-bound (PBX) kind PBXN-114. The second was created for controlled detonation in closed spaces. The GBU-57 bomb casing itself is of Eglin-type steel alloy with advanced density. This material is designed to withstand utmost stresses during deep penetration before detonation. The time of its detonation is determined by the alleged intelligent Large Penetrator Smart Fuze. This device adjusts the minute of detonation based on the depth of impact and characteristics of the underground structure. However, the detonator does not respond to vacuum and initiates explosions after stopping. Thus, for multi-storey objects it is impossible to program a bomb detonation at a circumstantial level.
The depth of penetration that GBU-57 can execute depends on the material kind and its density. According to available data, it can break through layers of reinforced concrete with a thickness of more than 2 to 18 m. And in the case of earth, it could be 60 m. In the event of an attack on Fordo, satellite images show that any of the bombs fell close the weak point of this underground object – a ventilation shaft whose location was able to find the intelligence.
Outside the GBU-57, the Americans utilized known and proven UGM-109 Tomahawk maneuvering missiles. 30 of them a submarine USS “Georgia” launched at the atomic Technology investigation Centre in Isfahan. The ship is 1 of 4 Ohio-type units that had previously been armed with Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles, however, after being upgraded they became platforms carrying maneuvering missiles. The ship has a buoyancy of nearly 19,000 tons and in each of its 22 vertical launchers can accommodate 7 Tomahawks, a full of 154.
The American operation in Iran was the largest strike always utilizing B-2 bombers and the first utilizing GBU-57.
