A video showing B2 stealth bomber dropping massive precision-guided ‘bunker buster’
bombs has been posted from B-2 Spirit official Twitter account.
Whiteman Air Force Base stated in a tweet sharing the footage taken by a USAF stealth
bomber pilot, “B-2 dropping two GBU-57, Massive Ordnance
Penetrators (MOP).
Each weapon weighs 30,000 lbs, with pinpoint accuracy, and holds deeply buried targets
at risk” The stealth bomber is pictured flying in an
undisclosed location & dropping the bomb..
Viewers can check the video from the link in the ‘Description' section.
The timing is significant as Iran & the U.S are in the middle of heated standoff and at
this point, the U.S is moving forces to the Persian Gulf.
In this video, Defense Updates analyses WHY EVEN A SINGLE B2 COULD BE ENOUGH TO TAKE OUT
IRAN's MILITARY?
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The Trump administration has taken a hard-line policy against Iran especially if compared
to the Obama administration.
President Trump withdrew from a nuclear deal that world powers had reached with Iran in
2015.
Apart from military assets like USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group & Patriot
air defense batteries, the U.S now has decided to send troops.
President Donald Trump had said on Friday that the U.S. is sending 1,500 more troops
to bolster the American forces in the region.
Iran’s foreign minister has warned that deployment of more troops to the Middle East
is "highly dangerous”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told state news agency IRNA, “The U.S. move
to increase its military presence in our region is highly dangerous and a threat against international
peace and security,.”
All in all, it can be said that the simmering tension between the two countries is heading
to a possible showdown.
The B-2 Spirit was developed to take over the United States Air Force’s (USAF) vital
penetration missions, able to travel deep into enemy territory to deploy their ordnance,
which could include nuclear weapons.
The B-2 is a flying wing aircraft, meaning it has no fuselage or tail.
The blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large
payload gives the B-2 significant advantages over previous bombers.
Stealth capability provides greater freedom of action as the bomber can evade enemy air
defenses.
As of today, no country has a bomber like the B 2 Spirit.
Currently, only Russia may have the radar technology to detect B 2, though the effectiveness
in real life scenario is suspect.
B 2 Spirit has a maximum speed of Mach 0.95.
The U.S. Air Force reports B2’s range as approximately 6,900 miles or 11,000 km.
B2 has an excellent payload, which makes even a single one to be extremely destructive.
It has 2 internal bays for ordnance and payload with an official limit of 40,000 lb (18,000
kg) and maximum estimated limit of 50,000 lb (23,000 kg).
So it can have different weapons configuration, which is noted as follows:
1. 80× 500 lb class bombs like Mk-82 or GBU-38
2. 36× 750 lb CBU class bombs
3. 16× 2,000 lb class bombs like Mk-84 or GBU-31
4. AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)
5. Two GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator can be carried.
Its payload enables it to carry not only a huge amount of conventional bombs but also nukes.
Each B2 can carry 16 B61 or B83 nuclear bombs on Rotary Launcher Assembly (RLA).
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the U.S. cache.
It is a low to intermediate-yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage
radiation implosion design.
The weapon is 3.56 m (11 ft 8 in) long, with a diameter of about 13 inches.Its basic weight
is about 320 kg (700 pounds), although the weights of individual weapons may vary depending
on version and fuze/retardation configuration.
The B61 is a variable yield, kiloton-range weapon.
Tactical versions (Mods 3, 4, and 10) can be set to 0.3, 1.5, 5, 10, 45, 60, 80, or
170 kilotons explosive yield.
The strategic version (B61 Mod 7) has 4 yield options, with a maximum of 340 kilotons.
The B83 thermonuclear weapon is a variable-yield gravity bomb developed by the United States
in the late 1970s, entering service in 1983.
The bomb is 3.7 meters (12 ft) long, with a diameter of 18 inches.
The bomb weighs approximately 1,100 kilograms (2,400 pounds).
With a maximum yield of 1.2 megatons of TNT, it is the most powerful free-fall nuclear
weapon in the United States arsenal.
To give viewers a perspective here is a comparison.
Trinity Test in New Mexico in July 1945, which lead the world into the nuclear age, had a
yield of 20-kilotons.
Hiroshima's "Little Boy" bomb had a yield of 13-18 kilotons whereas Nagasaki's "Fat
Man" bomb had a yield of 20–22 kilotons of TNT.
Iran has several air defense systems.
The most potent of these is the S 300.
Iran is thought to possess 4 batteries each of S 300 P and S 300 PMU2.
But these are far too less when we consider that Iran has a pretty big landmass to protect.
In a mission like this, B2 could also be escorted by F 22 Raptor.
F 22 is far more capable than any fighter jet Iran posses and will be able to knock
down any Iranian fighter jet that may try to intercept the B 2.
Keeping this in view, B2 Spirit will be able to penetrate deep and strike without much
hindrance.
And when even of one of these get through, the destructive power is enough to bring Iran's
military to its knees in no time.