A number of B-2 stealth bombers had been headed to Guam Saturday, two sources accustomed to their actions instructed ABC Information.
At this level, the bombers don’t have any orders past that, based on the sources.
On this July 4, 2020, file picture, a U.S. Air Power B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber is flanked by 4 U.S. Marine Corps F-35 fighters throughout a flyover of army plane down the Hudson River and New York Harbor.
Mike Segar/Reuters, FILE
The strikes come as tensions between Iran and the West have escalated over its nuclear program and the Trump administration weighs its choices.
Trump has had quite a few conferences with nationwide safety advisors this week and mentioned in an announcement that he would determine inside “in two weeks.”
The president is slated to have one other Scenario Room assembly later Saturday night.
A B-2 Stealth Bomber flies over the Washington Monument on the Nationwide Mall, in the course of the Independence Day celebrations in Washington D.C., on July 4, 2020.
Jose Luis Magana/AFP through Getty Photos, FILE
The bombers may keep at Andersen Air Power Base in Guam for a while, however the query is for the way lengthy. Transferring these plane doesn’t imply {that a} last determination has been made.
Along with the bombers, eight refueling tankers took off simply earlier than midnight on Friday in Oklahoma, flew over Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico earlier than turning round and touchdown on the similar base they took off, ABC Information discovered.
Over the previous week, hypothesis has grown as as to if the Trump administration would use the 30,000-pound Huge Ordnance Penetrator to focus on Iran’s deep underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordrow.
The B-2 is the one U.S. Air Power bomber able to carrying the MOP on bombing missions, with every bomber can carry two bombs.
Consideration turned to Whiteman Air Power Base in Missouri, which is the house to all 19 of the B-2 bomber fleet, and whether or not they may be launched for a nonstop flight to Iran that may require a number of mid-air refuelings.
Airmen have a look at a GBU-57, or the Huge Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri, Might 2, 2023.
U.S. Air Power through AP, FILE
Consideration was additionally targeted on the small British island of Diego Garcia within the Indian Ocean that may afford B-2 bombers a a lot shorter flight time to Iran.
In April, six B-2 bombers had been deployed to the island as a part of the sustained air marketing campaign that the Trump administration had launched in opposition to Houthi militants in Yemen due to their continued assaults in opposition to industrial transport within the Pink Sea area.
The bombers carried out airstrikes in opposition to Houthi targets in Yemen, however their deployment was additionally a strategic message to Iran at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
