The B-2 bomber's advanced stealth and massive precision bombs shatter Iranian defenses, obliterating hidden weapons sites with deep subterranean strikes.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
Eluding Iranian radar and air defenses with a stealthy bat-like wing-body configuration, radar absorbent materials, EW, altitude, thermal signature management and forward operating fire support .... B-2s have been attacking Iranian targets with massive, precision guided earth-penetrating bombs
Highly praised for its performance in Operation Midnight Hammer, the enduring and now “classic” upgraded B-2 bomber is leveraging its massive weapons arsenal to target high-value Iraqi weapons, boats, drones and ammunition ..underground. The B-2 is armed with large, earth penetrating bombs able to cut through rock, concrete and mountainous terrain before detonating at a specific, pre-determined depth. The idea is to use a delayed fuse so that weapons can explode once they have penetrated beneath the earth to the necessary depth to destroy buried targets.
These kinds of missions are a clear follow-on to the kinds of clandestine, high-altitude bombing missions the B-2 likely performed at the outset of the war, wherein the stealth platform likely targeted and destroyed whatever Iranian air defenses might be operational. These initial attacks are consistent with the B-2s core mission: launch secret, quiet, undetected attacks over heavily defended enemy territory to create a safer “air corridor” for less stealthy planes to operate within extremely lethal,otherwise uninhabitable airspace. Weapons selection, navigational data and intelligence analysis are all controlled by a human pilot, operating a digital display, computer screen and fire control system in the sky. The aircraft has eight displays, and incoming data from different pools of sensor data can likely now be “fused” into a common picture for pilots.
B-2 Weapons
In recent years, the B-2 has been testing with the B-61 Mod 12, an upgraded variant of several different nuclear bombs which integrates their functionality into one weapon. This not only decreases payload but of course multiplies attack options for pilots. For instance, a B-2 could quickly adjust from a point-detonate variant of the B-61 Mod 12, to one designed with penetration capabilities, Air Force officials said.
Alongside its nuclear arsenal, the B-2 carries a wide range of conventional weapons to include precision-guided 2,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions or JDAMs, 5,000-pound JDAMs, Joint Standoff Weapons, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles and GBU 28 5,000-pound bunker buster weapons, among others. The B-2 also carries a 30,000-pound conventional bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a weapon described as a more explosive version of the Air Force GBU-28 bunker buster. As many know, the MOP was used against Iranian nuclear targets in Operation Midnight Hammer. Large, bunker-busting bombs are likely being used now against buried Iranian targets.
The B-2 has flown missions over Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. Given its ability to fly as many as 6,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel, the B-2 flew from Missouri all the way to an island off the coast of India called Diego Garcia - before launching bombing missions over Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Modern, Upgraded B-2
While the original engineering may have come from the 1980s, many upgrades, adaptations and technological improvements have sought to keep the bomber current, relevant and ahead of evolving threats. The upgrades are multi-faceted and, among other things, they involve the re-hosting of the flight management control processors, the brains of the airplane, onto much more capable integrated processing units. This results in the laying-in of some new fiber optic cable as opposed to the mix bus cable previously being used – because original B-2 computers from the 80s could be overloaded with data in a modern war environment, Air Force officials said.
The B-2 is not only rounded and curved but also entirely horizontal, without vertical structures. This creates a scenario wherein a return electromagnetic ping, or radar signal, cannot obtain an actual rendering of the plane. The exterior is both smooth and curved, without visible seams binding portions of the fuselage. Weapons are carried internally, antennas and sensors are often built into parts of the fuselage itself so as to minimize detectable shapes on the aircraft.
Stealth Success
By not having protruding objects, shapes or certain vertical configurations such as fins, the bomber succeeds in blinding enemy radar, which is unable to generate enough returning electromagnetic “pings” to determine that an aircraft is there. An indispensable premise of B-2 sustainment is that the aircraft be prepared to succeed in the most “high-threat” or “contested” combat environments likely to exist.
The intent is to not only elude higher-frequency engagement radar, which allows air defenses to actually shoot an airplane, but also elude lower-frequency surveillance radar, which can simply detect an aircraft in the vicinity. Also, stealth aircraft such as the B-2 are built with an internal, or buried, engine to decrease the heat signature emerging from the exhaust. One goal of stealth aircraft thermal management is to try to make the aircraft itself somewhat aligned with the temperature of the surrounding air so as not to create a heat differential for enemy sensors to detect.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.