US puts its stealthiest big bombers in range of Iran and Yemen

The Trump administration has deployed B-2 bombers to a base in the Indian Ocean amid its campaign against the Houthi militia.

A satellite image shows B-2 stealth bombers, on the right, parked at the Diego Garcia base on Wednesday. Picture: Planet Labs PBC via AP.

The US has deployed heavy, radar-evading B-2 bombers to the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, a warning to Iran and Yemen’s Houthi militia that American air strikes could become more intense if Houthi attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping don’t stop.

The B-2 Spirit bombers arrived this week from their base in Missouri, said a spokesperson for the US Strategic Command. The bombers are part of the Pentagon’s efforts “to deter, detect and, if necessary, defeat strategic attacks against the United States and its allies,” the spokesperson said.

President Trump has ordered a campaign against the Houthis that has led to dozens of air strikes over the past two weeks that have targeted the group’s arsenal and leadership. The strikes — discussed in a now controversial episode by Trump administration officials on the messaging app Signal — have been heavier than those carried out in the Biden administration but haven’t stopped the Houthis from carrying out near-daily missile attacks on Israel.

Trump has warned Iran, which has backed the Houthis, that Tehran will be held responsible if the US-designated terrorist group continues its attacks. He has also warned Iran that it faces military action if it presses ahead with developing a nuclear weapon.

Yemenis inspect the damage in the Al-Rasul Al-Aazam cancer and oncology hospital's unfinished building, a day after it was hit in a US strike in Yemen's northern Saada province on March 25. Picture: AFP

Former defence officials said the new bomber deployment vastly enhances the US military’s ability to carry out strikes against the deep bunkers built by the Houthis and Iran. The B-2 is the only US stealth aircraft able to carry the GBU-57, a 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. Their basing at Diego Garcia puts the bombers within 2,500 miles from Houthi territory and 3,300 miles of Iran, well within their refuelling range of 6,900 miles.

“It’s a signal that the Iranians would have to see,” said William Wechsler, a former defence official in charge of counter-terrorism who is now senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs.

The B-2 bombers were accompanied by C-17A Globemaster III cargo planes, according to analysis of Planet Labs satellite images by Ian Ellis-Jones, an expert focused on Indo-Pacific security issues. The aircraft can carry personnel, support equipment and munitions for long-range bomber operations.

“This unprecedented concentration of overwhelming US firepower in close proximity to the region is intended to signal to the Houthis that … unless they stand down immediately, things are about to get much, much worse for them,” said John Hannah, who served as a national security adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Last week, the Pentagon dispatched a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East, which will give the US added firepower against the Houthis and ensure a continuous carrier presence in the area as tensions rise in the region.

Trump has warned the attacks on the Houthis would escalate and that the group would be “completely annihilated.”

The B-2, three decades old, is America’s sole stealth strategic bomber. Originally designed to carry nuclear weapons, it has been adapted to deliver large numbers of heavy conventional bombs. It has only been used in attacks five times since coming into service.

The bomber last saw action in October, when the Biden administration flew two B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to attack Houthi territory some 7,400 miles away.

The attack struck missiles, weapons components and other munitions in tunnel complexes in Yemen’s capital, San’a, said Mohammed al-Basha, a US-based Middle East security analyst for Basha Report. It collapsed several tunnel entrances, though commercial satellite imagery suggests the Houthis were able restore access by excavating new entry points, he said.

Analysts said it was also meant as a show of force for Iran.

“The US government has used Yemen to show it has the wherewithal and determination to punch Iran with a hard blow and stop it from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” said Wechsler.

A plume of smoke billows during a US strike on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa early on March 16. Picture: AFP

The B-2 first saw action during the war in Kosovo, when it single-handedly destroyed a third of all targets in the first eight weeks of the conflict, according to a US Air Force’s presentation of the plane. It led America’s response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, striking Taliban positions in Afghanistan and opening the way for US forces to enter the country. The aircraft then kicked off the 2003 war in Iraq, dropping more than 1.5 million pounds of munitions ahead of a ground invasion, says the Air Force fact sheet. It was used against Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi’s air force in 2011 and against Islamic State camps, also in Libya, in 2017.

David Des Roches, a former Defence Department official, ticked through the advantages of the bombers: “No early warning to the Houthis. Large payload. Quick turnaround for sustained bombing campaign.”

Many of the US strikes against the Houthis have been carried out by jet fighters, such as F/A-18 Super Hornets.

The B-2s tend to be used for dramatic effect at the beginning of a large offensive, said former Deputy Assistant Defence Secretary Michael Patrick Mulroy. By deploying them, the US is telling Iran to “come to the negotiating table or potentially face overwhelming military force,” Mulroy said.