THE AMERICAN "FLYING ARMADA": B-2S AND FIGHTERS IN NON-STOP FLIGHT, AND THE DECOY MISSION

An unprecedented show of firepower, involving dozens of state-of-the-art fighter jets departing from Missouri, along with B-2 stealth bombers, refueling aircraft, and others for radar tracking and electronic countermeasures. Tomahawk missiles and hundreds of military personnel in command centers coordinated the attack against Iranian nuclear sites.

Operation 'Midnight Hammer' stands as the most massive and sophisticated aerial blitz of the new millennium, involving 125 aircraft. It was executed by U.S. forces, aided by a decoy strategy designed to divert the attention of Iranian military leaders and global public opinion, thereby ensuring "the element of surprise"—the most decisive factor in military history.

The Deceptive Maneuver

The first step of the operation involved leaking news of a group of B-2 bombers departing from Missouri and heading for Guam in the Western Pacific, revealed General Dan Caine, head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, illustrating the blitz with a map. This move was largely perceived as a postponement of the attack, given the long flight times to the island and the probable involvement of other B-2s already ostentatiously deployed in the area at Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

In reality, back in Missouri, dozens of interceptor jets were warming their engines, ready for takeoff to escort and clear the path for 7 B-2 bombers. Each B-2 carried 2 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, designed for high penetration—a total load of over 180 tons. The flying armada began its long journey toward the targets, first flying over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, finally arriving—as shown on the map—over the skies of Israel and Iraq, then on to the targets in Iran, after 18 uninterrupted hours of flight and continuous in-air refueling.

The Strike and Its Aftermath

The first shots were fired by a submarine in the Persian Gulf, which launched 30 Tomahawk missiles against the Isfahan facility in two waves, the second covering the subsequent retreat of the aircraft. Immediately afterward, at Fordow and Natanz, fighter jets disabled air defense systems, with over 60 weapons systems employed, while the B-2s completed their mission, dropping a total of 14 GBU-57 bombs, each weighing 13 tons. Satellite images released today by international media show at least 6 craters at the Fordow facility, considered the toughest target, concentrated in two points—indicating that multiple munitions sequentially breached defenses to detonate deeper underground.

The "attack group" "literally went unnoticed," Caine emphasized, "nobody noticed." Shortly before President Donald Trump's announcement of the bombings, some American analysts had observed that the relentless Israeli fighter jet raids in southwestern Iran on Saturday evening were intended to pave the way for the U.S., which would then use that corridor to strike undisturbed.