B-2 stealth bombers on the tarmac at Diego Garcia
Jon Gambrell – AP.com April 2, 2025
Satellite images analyzed Wednesday by The Associated Press show the deployment of at least six nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit bombers to Camp Thunder Bay on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The presence of the bombers comes as the United States continues an intense airstrike campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The B-2 has been used in combat to target the Houthis in the past.
The Diego Garcia base is south of India and within striking distance of both Iran and Yemen.
Tensions also remain high between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The B-2 would be crucial in potentially bombing Iran’s underground nuclear sites.
Here’s a look at the B-2 deployment — and the wider regional tensions in the Mideast amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip — by the numbers
One-third
The six B-2s deployed to Diego Garcia make up nearly a third of all the B-2s America has in its arsenal.
1
That’s how many times the U.S. military has acknowledged using the B-2 in Yemen since the Israel-Hamas war began.
2
That’s the number of pilots in a single B-2 bomber.
6
That’s the number of B-2 bombers seen on Diego Garcia in images from Planet Labs PBC from Wednesday. The number seen has been rising in satellite photos analyzed by the AP since last week.
19
That’s how many B-2 bombers are in the U.S. Air Force fleet.
21
That’s the number of B-2 bombers initially built, but one was destroyed in a crash in 2008 and another was retired after being damaged in a 2022 crash.
65
That’s the number of people the Houthis say have been killed so far in the new U.S. airstrike campaign targeting Yemen.
172
That’s the wingspan in feet (52 meters) of a B-2.
200
That’s roughly the number of U.S. airstrikes conducted since March 15 against the Houthis, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
6,000
That’s the number of nautical miles (11,112 kilometers) the B-2 can be flown without refueling
12,300
That’s the weight in kilograms (27,125 pounds) of the GBU-57, known as the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator,” the bomb the B-2 can carry that could strike Iran’s underground nuclear sites.
50,000
That’s the ceiling in feet (15,240 meters) the B-2 can fly.
1.1 billion
That’s the estimated cost of a single B-2 in U.S. dollars.
These Yanks will never learn at all, Rice farmers and goat herders on the ground seem to waste them all the time and they quickly run away lolol
Proposing to take war to your adversary from over 2,000km away is not a good start to any war and surely takes away from tech advantage you might have. It also means the most important targets for him to deal with first is your closer carrier fleets. They don’t reinforce bombers 2,000 away, it’s the other way around.
Iran isn’t going anywhere, it’ll still be there in five years time. Why doesn’t the US wait until it can bribe, intimidate or further occupy its Middle East lackeys? Because Israel might not be there in five years time.
Apparently they’re wearing these red MAGA hats in Greenland: Make America Go Away (Image at bottom of article).
https://bruceohara.substack.com/p/the-cure-for-trump
If like many of us suspect Trump’s new tariffs will be very damaging for America he may double down on stupid. A lot of global suppliers may refuse to ship to America even though it’s American consumers who will pay the tariffs, because it might not make sense for them to take the financial risks of shipping goods over that might not be bought in sufficient numbers to make a profit; and what do they do with the unsold goods? Ship them back at a loss or just leave them there as a total loss? It’s also possible there’ll be global boycotts of American products so it’s risky to produce goods there for export.
It’s then I think Trump might double down on stupid. He could impose large fees to off-shore money withdrawn American banks, company dividends and selling shares. But he’s unaware enough to brag about making this next move, reading it wrong as a tough-guy threat and not seeing it as a forewarning. He’d cause so much foreign money to be withdrawn in so short a time before it’s made law he’d inflict irreparable damage on US banks, foreign investments in US companies and ultimately Wall Street.
Parking B2’s on Diego Garcia is just power projection. In their latest failed attempt the Israeli air force never flew over Iran because they were locked on by Iranian airdefense systems. B2’s are also visible for their radar and thus vulnerable. It’s either wag the dog or Iran really has the superior air defenses they claim to have.