00:00 - 00:04
Iran thought it could have its cake and
eat it, too. It has relied on the Houthis
00:04 - 00:09
to wreak havoc in the Red Sea for over a year
without getting its own hands dirty. Now,
00:09 - 00:14
the U.S. has had enough. Iran is about to
be hit hard as a massive U.S. B-2 Bomber
00:14 - 00:18
deployment prepares to escalate
the conflict in the Middle East.
00:18 - 00:23
U.S. President Donald Trump told Iran that this
was coming. Still, Iran wouldn’t stop supporting
00:23 - 00:29
the Houthis, meaning it now faces one of the most
terrifying weapons in the United States Air Force.
00:29 - 00:34
Trump’s warning to Iran came on the back
of the first four days of U.S. airstrikes
00:34 - 00:38
conducted against the Houthi militant group
in Yemen. That group, which has ties to Iran,
00:38 - 00:44
believed to extend to training and weapons supply,
reignited its attacks against container ships and
00:44 - 00:49
commercial vessels in the Red Sea on March
12. America’s response has been to launch
00:49 - 00:55
daily airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen,
which Trump says are already proving effective.
00:55 - 01:00
“Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the
Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get
01:00 - 01:05
progressively worse,” Trump posted to his
social media site on March 19. “It’s not
01:05 - 01:10
even a fair fight, and never will be.
They will be completely annihilated.”
01:10 - 01:14
While these comments may seem like bragging on
the part of the U.S. President, they actually
01:14 - 01:19
contain a veiled message to Iran. Trump is
telling Iran that one of its most important
01:19 - 01:24
proxies doesn’t stand a chance against the U.S.
And he’s not just saying it – the U.S. Navy and
01:24 - 01:29
Air Force are demonstrating that fact. The daily
airstrikes in Yemen have killed at least 53
01:29 - 01:34
people and injured over 100 more, with the U.S.
claiming that it’s managed to take out several
01:34 - 01:39
members of the Houthi leadership already.
And if there was any doubt about Trump’s
01:39 - 01:43
true target with these strikes, he
cleared all of that up on March 19.
01:43 - 01:48
In a separate Truth Social post, the U.S.
President said, “Iran must stop the sending of
01:48 - 01:54
these supplies immediately. Let the Houthis fight
it out themselves. Either way, they lose, but this
01:54 - 01:59
way they lose quickly.” And in a March 17 post,
Trump then delivered his most direct warning yet:
02:00 - 02:04
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will
be looked upon, from this point forward,
02:04 - 02:09
as being a shot fired from the weapons and
leadership of Iran, and Iran will be held
02:09 - 02:14
responsible, and suffer the consequences,
and those consequences will be dire.”
02:14 - 02:18
Did the U.S. just declare war on Iran?
Not quite.
02:18 - 02:22
But Trump has sent a message that the U.S. isn’t
going to stand by and watch as Iran funds and
02:22 - 02:28
supports the Houthis in the militant group’s Red
Sea campaign. And again, these aren’t empty words
02:28 - 02:33
from Trump. He’s following through on his promises
of more strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
02:33 - 02:38
And perhaps more importantly, he’s following
through on the threats he’s making against Iran.
02:38 - 02:39
How?
As we speak,
02:39 - 02:45
the U.S. is transporting B-2 stealth bombers to
a military facility that is within range of Iran.
02:45 - 02:52
On March 26, The Warzone, or TWZ, posted a report
claiming that a “significant force of B-2 Spirit
02:52 - 02:58
stealth bombers looks to be currently making its
way to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.”
02:58 - 03:04
It cites satellite imagery from the previous 48
hours that seems to demonstrate that the U.S.
03:04 - 03:09
is amassing what could become a powerful
fighting force on the U.K.-owned Island.
03:09 - 03:14
Diego Garcia is an interesting place. The
BBC reports that it is a remote island
03:14 - 03:19
nestled in the Indian Ocean, and to the outside
observer, it might look like paradise on Earth.
03:19 - 03:25
Lush vegetation sprouts up from its fertile
ground. Stunning, and practically untouched,
03:25 - 03:31
white sand beaches taper off into crystal clear
ocean waters. And as a holiday destination,
03:31 - 03:36
it has the potential to become one of the
most desirable getaways in the entire world.
03:36 - 03:40
But the island isn’t used
for such leisurely purposes.
03:40 - 03:45
Instead, it’s the home of a U.S. Navy support
facility that gives the U.S. eyes and ears in
03:45 - 03:50
the Indian Ocean. The island is leased to the U.S.
by the U.K., with the most recent lease renewal
03:50 - 03:55
allowing the U.S. to essentially use this tiny
slice of paradise for whatever purposes it deems
03:55 - 04:02
fit until 2036. Prior to March 2025, the island
was home to several branch units of the United
04:02 - 04:08
States military. These include a specific
Diego Garcia detachment of the U.S. Navy,
04:08 - 04:13
along with the 36th Wing of the Eleventh Air
Force of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces. It even
04:13 - 04:19
has a space operations contingent, with the 20th
Space Control Squadron of Space Operations Command
04:19 - 04:25
calling the island its home, along with the 21st
Space Operations Squadron of Space Delta 6. Add
04:25 - 04:30
detachments from the U.S. Air Force’s 515th
Air Mobility Operations Wing to that list,
04:30 - 04:35
as well as several supporting groups, and you
get a remote island that has been transformed
04:35 - 04:40
into one of the U.S.’s key Asian military bases.
Those branch groups are still there – they're
04:40 - 04:44
just being joined now by some of
America's most powerful bombers.
04:44 - 04:48
The U.S. itself provides scant few
details about what goes on at the base.
04:48 - 04:54
according to the Military Installations website,
entry to Diego Garcia is “restricted, requiring
04:54 - 05:01
area clearance by U.S. Navy Support Facility Diego
Garcia. Only unaccompanied military and Department
05:01 - 05:06
of Defense civilian personnel, or authorized
contractors may be assigned to the island”.
05:06 - 05:12
In other words, nobody gets on or off Diego Garcia
without express permission from the U.S. military.
05:12 - 05:15
So much for that vacation.
U.S. military personnel
05:15 - 05:19
typically embark on a one-year tour if they’re
assigned to the island, with extensions only
05:19 - 05:26
available to officers and enlisted personnel in
special circumstances. Civilians allowed onto
05:26 - 05:30
the island often stay longer, with Military
Installations noting that some have been on
05:30 - 05:35
the island facility for over 15 years.
But all of this is standard operating
05:35 - 05:41
procedure for the Diego Garcia military base.
What we’re seeing now is much different.
05:41 - 05:47
TWZ says that a combination of radio chatter
and satellite imagery confirms that the U.S.
05:47 - 05:54
is sending B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia. The
first signs came on March 25, with satellite
05:54 - 05:59
imagery demonstrating that at least three C-17
cargo planes had made their way to the island,
05:59 - 06:05
alongside 10 aerial refueling tankers. Both
are important to any future B-2 bombing runs.
06:05 - 06:10
Given that the island is about 1,000 miles away
from the next nearest land mass, the refueling
06:10 - 06:16
tankers will play key roles in keeping America’s
B-2s airborne for any strike missions conducted
06:16 - 06:21
against Iran. As for the cargo planes, they’re
doing exactly what the name suggests – shipping
06:21 - 06:27
vital cargo to Diego Garcia to ensure the B-2s
have everything they need for their bombing runs.
06:27 - 06:33
Radio chatter has also revealed what the U.S.
is planning. TWZ says that two B-2 bomber
06:33 - 06:39
crews – operating under the callsigns Pitch
11 and Pitch 14 – were heard communicating
06:39 - 06:45
with Australian air traffic control in March. That
radio conversation, which is publicly available,
06:45 - 06:49
also confirmed the presence of a third B-2,
though that aircraft’s crew wasn’t involved in
06:49 - 06:55
the conversation. The trio of U.S. bombers then
stopped off in Australia, where they refueled
06:55 - 07:01
before continuing their journey to Diego Garcia.
This aspect of the TWZ report is interesting.
07:01 - 07:07
It shows us that the U.S. isn’t attempting to keep
the B-2s’ movements a secret, reinforcing the idea
07:07 - 07:13
that it’s trying to project force against Iran.
More radio chatter comes from other B-2s. A
07:13 - 07:18
fourth, operating under the callsign Pitch 13,
appears to have been en route to Diego Garcia
07:18 - 07:24
before having to make an emergency landing at
Hawaii’s Hickam Air Force base. TWZ says that
07:24 - 07:29
we don’t know the nature of that emergency yet,
though images shared on Twitter showed that the
07:29 - 07:34
bomber was met on the tarmac by a crash truck.
More air traffic radio chatter came from
07:34 - 07:40
another B-2 with the callsign Abba. Typically
stationed at Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base,
07:40 - 07:45
that bomber is also en route to Diego Garcia.
Whether it’s serving as a replacement for Pitch
07:45 - 07:51
13 or was also intended to make this journey
isn’t known. If it’s the latter, that makes five
07:51 - 07:57
B-2s either on Diego Garcia are heading to the
island. That’s a quarter of the 20 B-2 bombers
07:57 - 08:03
currently stationed at the Whiteman base, which
is also the U.S. Air Force’s full stock of B-2s.
08:03 - 08:08
If there was any doubt about where these B-2s
were heading, it was all dispelled by two things:
08:08 - 08:12
A later TWZ update and comments
from the United States.
08:12 - 08:18
On March 26, TWZ confirmed that satellite images
obtained from Planet Labs showed that there were
08:18 - 08:24
at least three B-2s on Diego Garcia. Those images
also revealed even more equipment being amassed on
08:24 - 08:32
the island, including another C-17 cargo plane,
seven KC-135 aerial tankers, and what appears
08:32 - 08:38
to be a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
The latter is a plane that the U.S. Navy uses to
08:38 - 08:44
conduct reconnaissance for anti-submarine warfare
and anti-surface warfare. It’s likely the P-8A is
08:44 - 08:50
on Diego Garcia so that it can conduct scouting
runs and information gathering to support any
08:50 - 08:55
future B-2 missions against Iran in the future.
Other signs that the U.S. is bringing more
08:55 - 09:01
B-2s to Diego Garcia include the temporary
closing of several of the airfield’s taxiways,
09:01 - 09:07
with a notice stating those closures are in place
until at least April 27. Those closures may be a
09:07 - 09:14
result of a number of the island’s aircraft now
being parked on the base’s main apron, saw TWZ.
09:14 - 09:17
However, it’s the comments from the U.S.
that truly confirm what’s happening.
09:17 - 09:23
Some of those comments are obscure. For instance,
March 26 saw White House Deputy Chief of Staff
09:23 - 09:29
Dan Scavino post a short video of a B-2 to
his X account, along with the caption “B-2
09:29 - 09:35
Spirit Stealth Bomber.” The post doesn’t say much
on its own, but it could be a subtle signal about
09:35 - 09:39
what the U.S. is doing on Diego Garcia.
More concrete, though also not a direct
09:39 - 09:45
confirmation of the B-2s’ arrival on Diego Garcia,
comes from Air Force Global Strike Command,
09:45 - 09:52
or AFGSC. When asked by TWZ about the Pitch
13 bomber’s emergency landing, it responded:
09:52 - 09:58
“A B-2 Spirit bomber arrived at Hickam Air Force
Base. U.S. Strategic Command, its components,
09:58 - 10:03
and subordinate units routinely conduct global
operations in coordination with other combatant
10:03 - 10:09
commands, services, and participating U.S.
government agencies to deter, detect, and,
10:09 - 10:14
if necessary, defeat strategic attacks against
the United States and its allies. To preserve
10:14 - 10:20
operational security, we do not discuss
details about exercises or operations.”
10:20 - 10:23
That may be the case.
However, there are clues in this seemingly
10:23 - 10:29
boilerplate statement that may give the game away.
AFGSC didn’t need to mention its coordination
10:29 - 10:35
with other countries, for instance. We know that
Diego Garcia is operated by the U.K. and that
10:35 - 10:41
three B-2s stopped off in Australia to refuel.
Perhaps there’s a hint of AFGSC trying to get
10:41 - 10:46
ahead of any follow-up questions in the statement.
Add to all of this Secretary of Defense Pete
10:46 - 10:50
Hegseth’s extension of the USS Harry
S. Truman’s stay in the Red Sea,
10:50 - 10:55
which we now know is linked to the airstrikes
the U.S. is conducting in Yemen. That aircraft
10:55 - 11:01
carrier is set to be joined by the USS Carl Vinson
– another aircraft carrier – along with a small
11:01 - 11:05
fleet of destroyers in the coming days.
It all amounts to the U.S. building the
11:05 - 11:10
strongest combined aerial and naval force near
Iran that it’s employed for quite some time.
11:10 - 11:14
Which begs the question:
What does all of this mean for Iran?
11:14 - 11:18
In the immediate sense, Iran will be very
concerned about the arrival of B-2s on
11:18 - 11:23
Diego Garcia because the aircraft are among
the most advanced that the U.S. has in its
11:23 - 11:29
arsenal. Northrop Grumman, which builds the B-2,
provides some basic details about the bomber’s
11:29 - 11:35
specifications. It’s piloted by two people
and can reach “high subsonic” speeds. No
11:35 - 11:40
specifics are provided, though this description
likely means the B-2’s top speed falls within
11:40 - 11:46
the Mach 0.8 to Mach 1 range – slightly slower
than the speed of sound but still fast enough
11:46 - 11:52
to outpace most aircraft outside of fighter jets.
The bomber has a 50,000-foot combat ceiling and
11:52 - 11:59
can fly for up to 6,000 nautical miles without
needing to refuel. Diego Garcia is over 3,000
11:59 - 12:03
miles away from Iran’s southern edge, meaning that
range is just barely enough for the B-2 to make
12:03 - 12:08
it to the country and back to the island.
However, the B-2’s range climbs to 10,000
12:08 - 12:14
nautical miles with a single aerial refueling,
reinforcing the reasons why we’re also seeing
12:14 - 12:19
aerial tankers arrive at Diego Garcia.
As for weapons, the B-2 can carry either
12:19 - 12:25
conventional bombs or nuclear warheads. It’s also
an expensive aircraft. In terms of conventional
12:25 - 12:32
weapons, the bomber can carry up to 80 500-pound
Mk 62 sea mines for naval purposes or the same
12:32 - 12:39
amount of Mk 82 ground bombs. Alternatively, it
can be loaded with JDAMs for ground assaults,
12:39 - 12:45
up to 16 Mk 82 2,000-pound bombs, or a host of
other munitions. If the U.S. were to go down
12:45 - 12:52
the nuclear route in a war with Iran, it could
load the bombers with 16 of its B-61-7, B61-12,
12:52 - 13:00
or B83 nukes, or up to eight of its B61-11 nuclear
bombs. The latter is a ground-penetrating and
13:00 - 13:06
bunker-busting nuke with a yield of 400 kilotons –
more than enough to devastate most Iranian cities.
13:06 - 13:13
The U.S. Air Force website also says that
the B-2 has a $1.157 billion unit cost,
13:13 - 13:18
meaning the U.S. has just transferred over
$5 billion of hardware to Diego Garcia – even
13:18 - 13:23
before accounting for cargo transports,
tankers, and other supporting equipment.
13:23 - 13:28
Frankly, the B-2 is among the most
terrifying aircraft the U.S. has.
13:28 - 13:31
And if Iran sees it flying over
its skies, it could be a signal
13:31 - 13:36
that explosive devastation is incoming.
Which brings us to another question:
13:36 - 13:42
how does the U.S. plan to use its amassed B-2s?
We don’t have any direct answers from the U.S.
13:42 - 13:47
military, which has already said that it won’t
provide any details about specific operations.
13:47 - 13:52
We can also practically rule out the possibility
of the U.S. nuking Iran with its B-2s, as that
13:52 - 13:58
would only happen if Iran launched a nuclear
weapon at the U.S., which is extremely unlikely.
13:58 - 14:03
Instead, it seems likely that the U.S. is mostly
attempting to project power against Iran with
14:03 - 14:09
this B-2 deployment. TWZ notes that the last
time the U.S. sent a large contingent of B-2
14:09 - 14:16
bombers anywhere was in 2022. It sent four
of the aircraft to the RAAF Base Amberley to
14:16 - 14:21
support the deployment of the Pacific Air Forces
Bomber Task Force in a move that was seen as an
14:21 - 14:26
American attempt to put the squeeze on China. The
deployment was essentially a warning to Beijing,
14:26 - 14:31
with the U.S. communicating that it still had
plenty of influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
14:31 - 14:36
This also isn’t the first time that the U.S. has
sent a large contingent of its bombers to Diego
14:36 - 14:42
Garcia. It also did it in 2020 following the U.S.
military’s successful operation to kill Qassim
14:42 - 14:47
Suleimani, the former head of the Iran Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force. That time,
14:47 - 14:53
the U.S. sent six B-52s, likely as a way to tell
Iran that it would be very unwise to seek any
14:53 - 14:59
sort of revenge for the operation. Going even
further back, the U.S. also used Diego Garcia,
14:59 - 15:03
along with several other bases in the Indian
Ocean, to launch bombing strikes during the
15:03 - 15:08
initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom and
Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
15:08 - 15:14
That’s where the power projection comes into play.
The U.S. knows that it’s been able to use B-2s on
15:14 - 15:18
Diego Garcia to calm Iran’s collective
“temper” before. It also has a history
15:18 - 15:23
of using the island to launch successful
bombing campaigns against countries very
15:23 - 15:29
close to Iran, particularly its neighbor Iraq.
Worse yet for Iran, the U.S. has used its B-2s
15:29 - 15:35
against the Houthis in the past. Most recently,
October 2024 saw America conduct strikes using
15:35 - 15:41
its bunker-buster bombs to take out key Houthi
bases. Again, the signal was sent to Iran – this
15:41 - 15:46
is what we can do to your proxies, so imagine
what we could do to you. The fact that the B-2 is
15:46 - 15:53
also the only U.S. aircraft certified to carry
and deploy the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive
15:53 - 15:59
Ordnance Penetrator bomb, which can decimate
deeply buried targets, also shows us that the
15:59 - 16:05
U.S. is preparing for a fight where Iran’s most
important officials may try to hide underground.
16:05 - 16:09
And then there’s the range issue.
We already know that the U.S. can use its aerial
16:09 - 16:15
tankers to keep its B-2s in the air long enough
for them to reach Iran and get back to Diego
16:15 - 16:20
Garcia. The same can’t be said for any Iranian
aircraft or weapons. Iran’s primary bomber is
16:20 - 16:28
the Russian-made and Soviet-era Su-24, which has
a maximum range of just 1,864 miles. That’s not
16:28 - 16:34
even enough to get it from Iran’s southern top to
Diego Garcia, never mind making a return journey.
16:34 - 16:40
Iran’s missiles also can’t travel far enough to
reach Diego Garcia, according to TWZ. It points
16:40 - 16:46
to research by the Council on Foreign Relations,
which notes that Iran’s longest-range missile
16:46 - 16:53
can only travel about 1,240 miles, around half
of the distance between Iran and Diego Garcia.
16:53 - 16:58
All considered, U.S. will be able to attack Iran
with its B-2 bombers as and when it feels like it,
16:58 - 17:03
while Iran will be forced to rely on its
limited aerial defenses, which mostly consist
17:03 - 17:09
of Russian-made S-300s that aren’t a match for
the B-2. It certainly can’t counterattack, as Iran
17:09 - 17:14
just doesn’t have the range in any of its weapons.
So what, exactly, does the U.S. hope to achieve
17:14 - 17:18
by sending up to a quarter
of its B-2s to Diego Garcia?
17:18 - 17:23
Halting Iranian support of the Houthis
is a priority, as Trump has said. The
17:23 - 17:27
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
says Iran regularly smuggles missiles,
17:27 - 17:34
drones, and bombs into Yemen for the Houthis
to use in their Red Sea attacks. In June 2024,
17:34 - 17:39
the outlet reported that the U.K. had documented
the entry of around 500 ships from Iran into
17:39 - 17:45
Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen, suggesting
that the flow of weapons is large and constant.
17:45 - 17:49
Trump wants to put a stop to that.
But perhaps more importantly, there’s a nuclear
17:49 - 17:54
element to the B-2 deployment on Diego Garcia.
On March 7, The Guardian reported on Trump’s
17:54 - 18:00
claims that he’d gotten in touch with Iran to
open a dialog on a new nuclear weapons deal,
18:00 - 18:04
which would ultimately result in the country
accepting that it’s not allowed to develop nukes.
18:04 - 18:06
As Trump elaborated on Fox Business:
“I’ve written them a letter,
18:06 - 18:11
saying I hope you’re going to negotiate
because if we have to go in militarily
18:11 - 18:15
it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,”
That letter reportedly includes a two-month
18:15 - 18:20
deadline for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
to come to the table, which means Trump wants
18:20 - 18:26
talks to start by the beginning of May. So, the
arrival of B-2s is all about applying pressure.
18:26 - 18:31
The U.S. is telling Iran that it knows Iran
doesn’t have nukes yet. But the U.S. does,
18:31 - 18:36
and it can drop them from B-2s that it’s keeping
out of range of any Iranian counterattacks.
18:36 - 18:39
The implication is clear.
If the nuclear talks either
18:39 - 18:44
don’t happen or don’t go Trump’s way, the U.S.
has the ability to nuke Iran into oblivion.
18:44 - 18:48
But what do you think about the arrival
of B-2s on such a remote island in the
18:48 - 18:53
Indian Ocean? Is there any chance that the U.S.
could actually use them against Iran for either
18:53 - 18:58
conventional or nuclear attacks? Will Trump’s
gambit work, leading to Iran cutting support
18:58 - 19:03
for the Houthis and coming to the table for
nuclear discussions? Share your thoughts with
19:03 - 19:07
us in the comments section and be sure to
subscribe to The Military Show. We’re an
19:07 - 19:12
independent source for news and commentary
on the latest developments in this emerging
19:12 - 19:18
Middle East crisis, plus ongoing developments
in Ukraine and elsewhere around the world.
video to article