The Air Force is using a B-2 bomber in combat for the first time since 2017, sending a message to Iran

When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers to bomb Iranian-backed Houthi targets in Yemen, a move the Pentagon announced Wednesday night, it marked the first time in the 2020s that the aircraft was used in a combat mission.

The bombers carried out airstrikes on five underground weapons facilities, Austin said in a statement, and the operation was carried out in retaliation against the Houthis who were targeting civilian and military vessels in the area.

“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries want to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried, fortified or fortified,” Austin said. “The deployment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrates the U.S. global strike capability to strike against these targets whenever and wherever needed.”

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U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that the damage assessment was ongoing and “there is no indication of civilian casualties.”

The use of the B-2 Spirit bomber is significant, an aviation expert told Military.com, noting that the use of the long-range stealth aircraft sends a strong signal not only to the Houthis, but also to other proxies and to Iran itself be that you can’t mess with the USA.

Retired Air Force Col. Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 bomber command pilot and director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Military.com in an interview Thursday that there was no doubt that the announcement This is what a signal is meant to be.

“It was clearly intended to send the message to the Houthis that we are at the end of our tolerance for what you have done in the Red Sea and elsewhere. Stop it,” Gunzinger said.

Gunzinger added that while the Houthis were the target this time, the use of the B-2 made it clear that the warning was intended for others as well.

“It is undoubtedly also a message to Iran’s other proxies and to Iran itself,” Gunzinger added. “The United States stands ready to harness this significant military power and project it from the EU [continental United States]if necessary, and strike without warning.”

One of the last public announcements of the B-2’s use in combat came nearly eight years ago in January 2017, when two of the bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri flew a 33-hour mission to northern Libya, killing about 100 Islamists, according to reports Air Force officials said they were state militants.

The bombers operate out of Whiteman Air Force Base and can use aerial refueling to deliver large bomb loads anywhere in the world. The aircraft has been in service with the U.S. military since the mid-1990s, with a payload of 40,000 pounds and a fuel capacity of 167,000 pounds.

While the type of ordnance used in the mission against the Houthis was not disclosed, Gunzinger speculated that it may have been the GBU-72/B – the Air Force’s 5,000-pound bunker-buster bomb.

The combat use of the B-2 Spirit bomber also comes as the Air Force works to field its new B-21 Raider bomber.

The B-21, unveiled in late 2022, is currently undergoing flight tests, officials said in an update last month.

The Defense Department has already announced that it plans to purchase around 100 B-21s – more than the current B-2 and B-1B bomber fleets combined. Each new B-21 bomber is estimated to cost $700 million.

The Air Force currently has 20 B-2s, one of which is used for testing, according to a service information sheet.

Related: The Air Force’s B-21 Raider is making more test flights as the force sets its sights on two new bases

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