US President Donald Trump may not be able to use his most formidable weapon, the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, against Iran afterall.
As the US mobilises air and naval power in the Middle East for a potential attack on Iran, if the talks to strike a deal with Iran fail, there is a new hurdle before the Trump administration. As per reports, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is blocking a request by President Trump to allow American planes to use British bases to attack Iran, citing legal issues.
This is significant as the US had been using RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, and the UK overseas territory of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, to carry out strikes in the Middle East region.
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This could be why military watchers are yet to spot movement of the B-2 bombers to either Diego Garcia or Fairford, even when a flurry of F-22 Raptors, F-16 Fighting Falcons, E-3 Sentry radar planes and a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane were seen heading to the Middle East. The non-deployment of the bombers drew attention, since it was in Deigo Garcia that the US deployed an unusually large force of six B-2 Spirit stealth bombers last April. These bombers later conducted strikes on Iran-backed Houthi elements in Yemen.
And, if the US plans to hold a sustained campaign against Iran, as reported, both Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford would be important to any American plans. Especially, RAF Fairford is the home of the only U.S. bomber forward operating location in the U.K.
Though the US can deploy major bomber operations out of its bases, including the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, as it did last year while bombing Iranian nuclear sites, that was a one-night operation, and things would be different for a prolonged, weeks-long campaign against Iranian leaders, nuclear infrastructure and military sites.
In that case, the US would need either Diego Garcia or RAF Fairford to stage, rearm and maintain the B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers, especially during the opening of the campaign.
The US has other basing options even for its sensitive B-2 Spirit bomber force, but deploying it from a base equipped with all amenities would help keep sortie rates up during a conflict.
That said, Trump has been hinting that he would use the Bombers, even praising the “magnificent” B-2 bombers that “totally decimated the nuclear potential” of Iran last summer.
As for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, they are one of the most intimidating weapons owned by the US and a insurmountable challenge for Iran’s integrated air defence network. While experts predict that the US attack on Iran wouldn’t be clean and quick, military experts think chances are pretty low that Iran can ever target a B-2 bomber, considering that Tehran relies on S-300PMU2 and Bavar-373 systems, which cannot reliably detect, track and destroy the bomber.
Amid this, there are reports that the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is moving to replenish GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs used during 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
