US flexes muscle in Yemen: B‑2 bombers target Houthi depots

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the attack. Aircraft from the 509th Bomb Wing, based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, participated. This is where American B-2 bombers are stationed. In April 2024, they conducted a spectacular "elephant walk," a rapid launch of many aircraft following an impressive taxiing of planes on the runway.

According to experts, the deployment of B-2 aircraft might not have been driven by operational necessity, and the targets destroyed by the "Spirits" might have been struck by other means. However, using the most expensive, limited strategic bombers is seen as a demonstration of force directed at Iran.

This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach. (…) The employment of US Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate U.S. global strike capabilities," stated the Department of Defense's announcement.

It is not known what weapons were in the B-2's weapons bays. According to Milmag, the use of strategic bombers suggests that the underground warehouses were targeted with the heaviest bombs in the American arsenal, the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).

This weapon was developed to destroy underground Iraqi military installations that were so heavily fortified over the years that, according to the Pentagon, American precision weapons might not have been able to obliterate them. Consequently, the GBU-57A/B bomb was developed, which is roughly 6 metres long and weighs nearly 14,000 kg.

The GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, with its mass and reinforced body construction, can destroy a target hidden under a 40-metre layer of rock, 60-metre layer of soil, or 8-metre layer of reinforced concrete. If the speculations about its use are confirmed, it will be the first combat deployment of this weapon in history.