On Saturday night (21 June), the US launched a bombing attack against Iran using a $2.1 billion stealth bomber, the B-2 Spirit.
In a quite alarming move for global tensions, the US moved away from the previous ambiguity over whether or not it would join Israel in taking direct action against Iran and targeted three Iranian nuclear sites with 'ground penetrating warheads'.
In the aftermath of launching strikes against Iran, President Donald Trump declared that 'NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE' and then insisted that the Iranians should come to the negotiating table 'otherwise they'll get hit again'.
Responding to the bombing, Iranian officials branded the US attack 'outrageous, extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behaviour', promising there would be 'everlasting consequences', and saying that 'Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people'.
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Other countries have called for de-escalation, while Trump talked about the 'monumental damage' the US had done to Iranian nuclear facilities.
The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
Satellite imagery showed craters caused by American bombers using GBU-57 'bunker buster' missiles launched from B-2 stealth bombers.
Six B-2 stealth bombers were used to strike Iran's primary nuclear facility in Fordow with a dozen missiles, while American submarines fired 30 Tomahawk missiles at Iranian nuclear bases Natanz and Esfahan.
The B-2 costs over two billion dollars for just the one plane, and over the weekend, they took off from a base in Missouri, US, and flew halfway across the world to strike Iran.
They can carry some of the heaviest munitions the US has, including nuclear weapons, and is capable of mid air refuelling which allows it to stay in the skies for up to 40 hours.
Back in 2019, Military Times got a look inside the cockpit of one of these bombers while it was in flight, providing a rare insight into how the B-2 looks for the pilots who fly it.
Why is a B-2 so difficult for radar to detect?
According to the United States Air Force, the B-2 is a 'low observable' bomber which makes it incredibly difficult for even the most sophisticated of defence systems to detect.
They say that the aircraft is designed for 'reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures', which basically means it's damn difficult to spot.
While many details are 'classified', the USAF says that the B-2's 'stealthiness' is due to a mixture of 'composite materials, special coatings and flying-wing design'.
How they build it
According to YouTube channel MegaBuilds, the B-2's shape alone makes it hard for radar to spot while the aircraft is coated in 'top secret radar absorbent materials'.
They compared it to the plane having an 'invisibility cloak', but couldn't say exactly what they were as they were extremely classified, and claimed that radar would find it as difficult to spot a B-2 as it would 'a pigeon'.
Radar works by sending out radio waves which will bounce back when they hit something, but the B-2 is designed to be as smooth and sleek as possible so the amount of surfaces that when hit by radio waves would bounce them back is minimal.
Part of the reason why it's so hard to detect is because the details on exactly how it was made are kept under wraps, the US does not licence production of the B-2 Spirit to any other country, so nobody else is allowed to make it and learn exactly what makes it so effective.
The future of US involvement in Iran
Now the US has become directly involved in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, there is little telling where it will end.
While there have been calls for Iran to come back to the negotiating table, the recent American bombing has not helped move things in a conciliatory direction at all.
There have been further strikes on the Iranian capital of Tehran from Israel, while Iran has sent missiles of its own at Israel.
Now there are concerns that Iran may attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, a move which would have consequences felt around the world as a significant amount of the world's oil supply passes through it.
Meanwhile, Iran launched missiles against US bases in Qatar and Iraq.
The US has insisted that their actions in Iran have 'not been about regime change', though Donald Trump posted on social media that it's 'not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???'
Topics: US News, Iran, Donald Trump, World News
Joe Harker