Higher payloads and specialty munitions may have been behind the request by U.S. Central Command for U.S.-based B-1B bombers for the Feb. 2 air strikes on more than 85 Iranian-linked targets at seven sites in Iraq and Syria.
The B-1B has a payload of 75,000 pounds, which may include Boeing [BA] baseline and laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and Lockheed Martin [LMT] Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles.
For the Feb. 2 strike, B-1Bs took off early on Feb. 1 from Dyess AFB, Texas, the Air Force said.
CENTCOM said that the Feb. 2 strikes were “with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States.”
“The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions,” according to the command. “The facilities that were struck included command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and coalition forces.” The IRGC–Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–is a specialized branch of the Iranian military.
U.S.-based B-1Bs saw first use on March 27, 2011 during Operation Odyssey Dawn after flying about 12 hours from snowbound Ellsworth AFB, S.D., to Libya, where they struck nearly 100 targets in two days, the Air Force said. In preparation for that mission, personnel built about 145 munitions in less than 20 hours, the service said. “According to mission planners, the B-1 was the only aircraft that could meet the demands of the mission, such as the timeframe and the number of weapons required to hit that many targets,” the Air Force said at the time.
B-1Bs from Ellsworth and Dyess routinely fly Bomber Task Force training missions overseas, the Air Force said.
After the Feb. 2 air strikes, the Pentagon has used Tomahawk cruise missiles from surface ships and JDAMs fired by F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) carrier air wing. Boeing built the B-1B fleet and Super Hornets, while RTX [RTX] is the contractor for Tomahawk.
On Feb. 3, U.S. and coalition forces hit 36 Houthi targets at 13 sites in Yemen in response to Houthi aggression against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to a statement by the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
The Feb. 3 strikes “specifically targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars,” the statement said.