Diego Garcia Buildup: Is America Preparing to Attack Iran?
The B-2 buildup in Diego Garcia is about more than just rolling back the Houthi threat. Washington is likely readying to strike deep—and hard—against Iranian targets.
The military press has been abuzz this week with the news that four of America’s nineteen operational B-2 Spirit long-range nuclear stealth bombers are being transferred to Diego Garcia, the largest island within the (for now) British-owned Chagos archipelago south of India, where the United States and Britain operate a joint naval base.
One can only guess at why the United States would need so many B-2s in one place. Yet unnamed sources insist that the buildup there is larger than what one would conceivably need to destroy the Houthi threat in Yemen. Might there be another nearby target?
Interesting Events on Diego Garcia
These moves by the Trump administration come on the heels of numerous statements, some intentional, some leaked by senior Trump officials—including the president himself.
Several weeks ago, while signing executive orders in the Oval Office, Trump ruminated about we were “approaching the final moments” of his interaction with Iran. Shortly thereafter, the forty-seventh issued an ultimatum to the mullahs of Iran insisting they return to the negotiating table within two months—and indicating that he would end their regime if they possessed nuclear weapons.
To punctuate this statement, Trump sent a personal note to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of Iran, which the septuagenarian Islamist leader roundly rejected, claiming that the tone of Trump’s letter was hostile.
More recently, an embarrassing moment came when the Trump national security team apparently coordinated a bombing campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over the Signal text messaging app—accidentally including Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg in the conversation. The so-called “Signalgate” debacle has overshadowed the true purpose of Trump’s strikes in Yemen—hinted at in the texts that Goldberg revealed to the world. Indeed, the Trump administration appears to be working on a wide-ranging plan for fundamentally reordering the unstable Middle East.
Make no mistake: this is probably not about destroying an annoying terrorist group. What we are witnessing, be it the historic number of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers being deployed to the region or the B-2 buildup in Diego Garcia, is more than just rolling back the Houthi threat. Instead, Washington is likely readying to strike deep—and hard—against Iranian targets. This might be happening in conjunction with an Israeli Air Force (IAF) strike on targets in Iran, such as the Fordow uranium enrichment facility.
Just look at the kind of firepower that the U.S. is bringing to the region with these four B-2 Spirit stealth bombers.
Understanding the B-2 Spirit
Northrop Grumman designed the B-2 for the United States Air Force. It was first flown in 1989 and officially introduced in 1997. The B-2 was a product of the Cold War era, intended to penetrate (undetected, of course) dense anti-aircraft defenses of the kind that surround key strategic targets in Iran. For the last several months, the rumor mill has run rampant with reports that the Iranians were on an anti-aircraft defense system buying spree—acquiring many systems from Russia.
The B-2 is coated with radar-absorbent materials, and its four General Electric F118-GE-100 engines are buried within its distinctive flying-wing design to reduce heat signatures. Those F118-GE-100 engines produce 17,300 pounds of thrust each, giving the stealthy beasts a range of approximately 6,000 nautical miles (6,904 miles). Its cruising speed is subsonic, around 560 miles per hour, and it flies up to 50,000 feet.
B-2 Spirits have a maximum takeoff weight nearing 336,500 pounds. A single B-2 Spirit can carry up to 40,000 pounds of ordnance, including precision-guided munitions, like Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), the massive 30,000-pound GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or even 16 rotary-launched nuclear bombs. A two-man crew consisting of a pilot and commander operates from a state-of-the-art cockpit, with advanced avionics for navigation, targeting, and electronic countermeasures.
Based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, these planes have an extensive combat history ranging from Kosovo to Iraq and Afghanistan to Libya—many of which were considered ultra-long missions, with some lasting over 30 hours. Thus, using the tranche of B-2s to potentially lay waste to hardened Iranian targets is a realistic possibility for why these planes—and all their support birds—are being repositioned to Diego Garcia.
Don’t Underestimate America’s Stealth Capabilities
Interestingly, the Air Force originally desired to acquire significantly more B-2s than what they ended up with. Originally, the Air Force ordered 132 of these units to eventually replace the Air Force’s 72 B-52 Stratofortress long-range bombers. Alas, this plan was nixed due to the onerous cost of the far more complex B-2 Spirit bombers.
Only 21 of the units of the B-2 were built. One B-2 Spirit was, unfortunately, destroyed in a crash in 2008, while another was damaged in a crash in 2022 and retired due to the exorbitant repair costs.
The Air Force now plans for the B-21 Raider to replace the B-2 Spirit. Just as with the B-2 Spirit, the extremely high cost of the new B-21 likely means that there will likely be fewer units of the B-21 than there are of the B-2—if the aircraft even makes it off the drawing board.
But the B-2 still packs quite a wallop—and sending more than one-fifth of America’s total B-2 Spirit fleet to Diego Garcia at once, where they will officially remain at least until May 1, suggests that there is a massive operation planned in the region far sooner than most think.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.