I woke on Sunday morning and opened my computer to check the news. To my surprise I learned US President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities. So Trump had given the ok to Operation Midnight Hammer forgoing a diplomatic solution.

At this point details were sketchy, what I learned was a mission had taken place and the US aircraft had left Iranian air space without detection or interception. The US flew B-2 Spirit bombers of the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman air force base in Missouri, this is the only air force base in the US. All 19 B-2 stealth bombers are based at Whiteman, although the B-2 may be temporarily based at Diego Garcia or Guam for short periods.

There was deception with a group of B-2 bombers flying towards Diego Garcia with transponders active as a decoy operation. The strike group of seven aircraft flew with complete radio silence from a different direction with multiple mid air refuelling and had escort aircraft at different times. I was astonished at the number of aircraft used in the mission and the degree of coordination required. Much of this information was learned from the Defence Department briefing and I would be interested to learn how much real information was omitted.

Prior to entering Iranian airspace, US submarines in the region launched tomahawk cruise missiles towards air defence targets. The B-2 strike group dropped 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs were dropped on the Fordow and Natanz sites. Two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators [MOP] 13,600 kg tungsten tipped gravity bombs are carried on each B-2 bomber. The Esfahan site was hit with cruise missiles only causing extensive damage. This is the first time the GBU-57 has been used in combat with the US claiming the bomb can travel 60 metres underground on the first charge before detonating although I would expect these specifications to be conservative.