'18-hour flight, mid-air refuellings': How US fooled Iran with 'decoy' B-2 bombers and hit three nuclear facilities

An 18-hour flight each way, multiple mid-air refuellings, and clever diversions, this is what the US did to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. The mission, known as Operation Midnight Hammer, relied on misdirection and stealth to ensure maximum impact with minimum detection.

A false trail: B-2s seen heading towards the Pacific

On Saturday, a formation of B-2 stealth bombers took off from their base in Missouri. Observers spotted them flying toward Guam, a US territory in the Pacific. It appeared the US was signalling a strike was coming, just not immediately. But this flight was a decoy, meant to draw attention away from the real mission.

While the world watched the Pacific, seven other B-2 bombers quietly flew east on an 18-hour mission toward Iran. Keeping radio silence, flying under radar, and refuelling mid-air, these aircraft remained undetected. US fighter jets also played a role in the deception, flying ahead of the stealth bombers to draw out enemy defences.

As the bombers approached Iranian airspace, a US submarine fired over two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles to disable critical air defences. Within minutes, the B-2s dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, each weighing 30,000 pounds, on Iran’s key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

Largest-ever B-2 mission went undetected

The operation marked the largest-ever coordinated B-2 strike and the second-longest B-2 flight in history, second only to post-9/11 missions. The Pentagon confirmed that more than 125 aircraft supported the effort. General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran did not detect the bombers. “Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission. We retained the element of surprise,” he said.

Trump posted about mission before officials were briefed

The operation’s secrecy was so tight that even top officials in Washington weren’t informed in advance. “Very few people knew the timing or nature of the plan,” Caine told reporters, adding that many only learnt of the mission after President Donald Trump announced it on social media late Saturday night. The US airstrikes followed an earlier barrage of missiles fired by Israel under Operation Rising Lion.

Commercial satellite images shared by Reuters showed signs of major destruction at Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. Experts said the deeply buried site and the equipment used for uranium enrichment may have been seriously damaged, though the extent is still unclear.

Initial assessments suggested that all three nuclear sites targeted by the US had sustained significant damage. However, General Caine declined to say whether Iran’s nuclear programme had been fully dismantled.

Following the US attack, Iran launched a missile assault on Israel. The strikes injured dozens and caused widespread destruction in Tel Aviv, leaving several buildings in ruins. Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.