The U.S. military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels early Thursday, a major escalation in the American response to the rebels’ attacks on Mideast shipping lanes that appeared to be a warning to Iran as well.
While it wasn’t immediately clear how much damage the strikes caused, the attack appeared to be the first use of the B-2 in combat in years and the first time the flying wing targeted sites in Yemen.
In announcing the strikes against the Houthis, who have been attacking ships for months in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas warin the Gaza Strip, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a point to offer a warning likely heard in Tehran as well.
Necessary in what sense? Necessary to defeat the Houthis? Probably not. Necessary to tell Iran you can fuck with Israel but you better not fuck with the U.S.? Possibly.
If you think you want to be more prepared for a nearer-peer conflict, you might want to get your B2 crews some real combat sorties. Kind of like a college football rent-a-win game before the conference season starts.
It’s a risk because the Spirits are basically capital ships of the air, but it may be a worthwhile trade-off.
Necessary to use the B-2s rather than a more-conventional delivery platform. It isn’t what I’d normally expect to be used in a conflict like this one.
The B-2 was the message, not the bombing.
I suppose that could make some sense. There’s some symbolic value there.
Mind you, this is just me hypothesizing. But I can’t think of a better reason.