Operation Epic Fury is underway. The U.S. military is striking targets across Iran with multiple assets. The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are using a plethora of airframes to deliver precision munitions to Iran.
Aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II, F-22 Raptor, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15E Strike Eagle, A-10 Thunderbolt II, C-17 Globemaster III, P-8 Poseidon, and RC-135 Rivet Joint are dismantling Iran’s military, political, and intelligence apparatuses.
But the U.S. military has also deployed its strategic bomber fleet. B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirits have conducted impressive operations targeting Iran’s most precious ballistic missile and nuclear enrichment underground facilities.
Thus far, B-1 and B-2 strategic bombers have conducted at least two high-value target missions. In the opening wave of Operation Epic Fury, B-2 Spirit stealth bombers conducted a similar strike to that which they performed last summer during Operation Midnight Hammer.
“This included American B-2 bombers, which, again, similar to Midnight Hammer, flew a 37-hour round-trip sortie from the continental United States, dropping precision, penetrating munitions on Iranian underground facilities across the southern flank, slightly deeper,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said during a press briefing on Monday morning.
During the June strike, B-2s dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) munitions, each weighing 30,000 lbs, on two of Iran’s most heavily protected nuclear facilities, Fordow and Natanz. Now, however, the B-2s packed 2,000 lbs Joint Terminal Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and targeted Iran’s hardened ballistic missile facilities.
Then, on Sunday night, B-1 Lancers struck Iran’s underground ballistic missile stockpiles.
In a video released by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), several B-1 Lancers are seen taking off into the night, using afterburners for the last portion of the procedure.
“Last night, U.S. B-1 bombers, struck deep inside Iran to degrade Iranian ballistic missile capabilities. As the President stated, ‘we’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,'” CENTCOM said in a video post on social media.
The introduction of the strategic bombers suggests that Operation Epic Fury is moving forward to another phase – a phase of air superiority – since these aircraft operate better in a degraded air defense system. (Contrary to the B-2, the B-1 isn’t a stealth bomber.)
Both aircraft are extremely formidable, however. A B-2 Spirit, for example, can carry 20 2,000lbs JDAMs, wreaking havoc on the ground; the B-1 can carry a mixture of munitions, including 15 500-pound GBU-38 JDAMs and 15 GBU-54 Laser JDAMs.
What is remarkable about these operations is that the bombers take off and land in the continental United States. Unlike the other air assets that are based in ground air bases in the region or on the USS Abraham Lincoln or USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carriers, the B-1s and B-2s travel more than 12,000 miles to Iran and back.
“This was a massive, overwhelming attack across all domains of warfare, striking more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours,” General Caine stated.
The strikes aim at degrading Iran’s command and control infrastructure, naval forces, ballistic missile sites, and intelligence infrastructure in order to daze and confuse any response. Nevertheless, the Iranian forces have managed to respond with ballistic missiles and one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, causing damage to several locations across the region and even reaching Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Over the course of the last two days, the Joint Force has launched hundreds of missions from land and sea and delivered tens of thousands of pieces of ordnance. The effort continues to scale,” Caine added, highlighting that the Israeli Defense Force has also been conducting hundreds of sorties against Iranian targets.
Feature Image: A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer aircraft assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, prepares to refuel from a KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft, assigned to 74th Air Refueling Squadron at Grissom Air Reserve Base, over the United States, July 2, 2025. The B-1 is a long-range, supersonic bomber built for high-speed, low-level missions and heavy conventional payloads. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Halley Clark)
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