The ‘Invisible Defenders’ rolled from aircraft hangers into the muggy Missouri air at the start of a mission destined for the annals of military aviation.
Assembled were nine of the most expensive and advanced aircraft in the world, the B-2 Stealth Bomber, eerily futuristic in appearance and destined to reshape the Middle East.
Even at Whiteman Air Force Base in the US Mid-West the details of the mission were a closely guarded secret.
The bombers slipped into the clammy darkness above Whiteman at just after midnight local time on Saturday at the start of a 37-hour mission that would surprise the world.
Today, that world is adjusting to the implications of Operation Midnight Hammer, a mission marking the end of a 45-year stand-off between the United States and Iran. A vast amount of detail has yet to be released, but the mission was planned and rehearsed years in advance for precisely the situation the US is now confronted by.
Under the wings of each of the B-2s were two of the biggest conventional bombs ever produced, the GBU-57, or Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) as it is known in military vernacular.
Initially, the fleet flew in a triangular formation across the night sky and over the great plains and lakes of America’s interior.
But then came the first of many deceptions – intended to keep the world guessing about Donald Trump’s intentions – when a pair of B-2s split from the ‘strike package’ and headed west towards the Pacific.
Their destination was not Iran but Guam, a US island territory in Pacific Micronesia and home to the Andersen Air Force Base, 4,000 miles from Iran.
Keen watchers of the sky, particularly in these turbulent times, soon picked up on their movements and reports spread. Their intended destination was reported on international wire services and made the Trump-friendly Fox News headlines.
That focus allowed the remaining seven-strong team to head to their real target – the nuclear facilities run by the Tehran regime. Operating under virtual radio silence, they flew undetected for 18 hours, aided by refuelling tankers in the sky to keep them on their way.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained to the world’s press yesterday: ‘As part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy. This deception effort was known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington DC and in Tampa [the headquarters of US Central Command].
‘The main strike package proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications.
‘Throughout the 18-hour flight into the target area the aircraft completed multiple in-flight refuellings.’
Senior US officials, including the Commander-in-Chief himself, were buoyed by the success of the sleight of hand as they gathered in the White House War Room.
There the US President, whose second term is likely to be shaped by the fallout from yesterday’s operation, was joined by leading lieutenants, such as Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A notable absentee was National Security Director Tulsi Gabbard, who became persona non grata after she backed a US intelligence report that concluded that Iran, contrary to Israel’s claims, was not on the cusp of developing a nuclear missile.
Reportedly, President Trump has scarcely spoken to her since.
She is likely to have been among the majority of US officials who were entirely unaware that Midnight Hammer was taking place.
It was America’s most classified mission of recent times. Very few officers in the Pentagon knew of its existence, let alone the operational details.
According to reports, the UK was told of the mission before the bombs dropped, but President Trump’s decision to launch it from mainland United States, rather than the joint UK-US base at Diego Garcia, was telling.
Seemingly, he was determined to deliver an ‘America First’ mission to convince isolationist sceptics in his Make America Great Again (MAGA) support base that he had made the right call.
That determination dictated that the United States provided every one of the 125 combat aircraft involved, every precision-guided missile, every cruise missile and every naval vessel.
The seven remaining B-2s continued towards Iran, shielded by an echelon of fighter jets. But the US’s opening salvo would be fired not from any of these aircraft but a US nuclear submarine in the Arabian Sea.
At just before 10pm GMT the as-yet unnamed US submarine fired more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
Their purpose was to neutralise Iranian defence systems protecting nuclear enrichment facilities at Isfahan. When these sites had been destroyed, the B-2 group entered Iranian airspace.
The stealth jet squadron slipped into enemy skies, moving into attack formation at ‘high altitude and high speed’, with lighter, more mobile F-22 fighter jets sweeping in front of the B-2s to shield them from any surface-to-air or air-to-air fire.
There was none. Not a single shot was fired at any of the aircraft or warships involved in Midnight Hammer from the beginning of the operation to its end.
Soon they were on top of their main target, the Fordow nuclear plant buried in a mountain south of Tehran and protected with reinforced concrete. The first bunker-busters struck vulnerable positions at the facility such as ventilation shafts. According to US commanders, all 14 GBU-57s struck their intended targets.
Smoking craters picked up on satellite images yesterday looked almost like pin-pricks on the rocky landscape, showing the accuracy of the strikes. The huge blast effects desired by the Americans will have occurred deep beneath the surface.
Finally, it appears a further volley of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched by US Navy vessels to protect the B-2s and F-22s as they began their long journey home.
The aircraft left Iranian airspace just 25 minutes later and headed home, seemingly without the regime having a clue that they were there. Then, and only then, did the White House inform Congress of the military action. This could prove controversial in the US, particularly as no exceptions were made for senior Republicans in both houses.
Even ultra-loyal Trump lawmakers had to wait. As the US had not declared war on Iran, the bombing mission did not need Congress’s prior approval. Gen Caine said yesterday that initial assessments indicated that ‘all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction’.
President Trump boasted that they had been ‘completely and totally obliterated’ and that no other military in the world could have accomplished the mission.
