The firepower at the disposal of the US air force is about to become four times as powerful after Britain allowed heavy American bombers to use its key airbases, military experts have disclosed.
The move, which came after the UK reversed its decision to ban US aircraft from using British bases to attack Iran, “changes the nature” of the bombing campaign, leading to much heavier strikes on Iran’s ballistic missiles factories and military infrastructure, analysts have said.
Britain’s approval for America to use RAF Fairford base in Gloucester and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean has unlocked the capacity of the B-52 and B-1 bomber fleets, according to a report authored by retired Air Marshal Sammy Sampson and Sascha Bruchmann of the IISS think tank.
“Each is capable of carrying bombs with a payload of 84,500lb (38,000kg), more than quadruple the capacity of the F-15. Size is about to matter more, and the nature of this air campaign is set to change.”
Open source intelligence analysts tracking US military flights have also reported an “insanely huge US airlift operation”, according to War Monitor, a trusted online source, with many C-17 transport aircraft crossing the Atlantic, probably carrying both offensive weapons and replacement missile interceptors.
B-52 battlefield
The airbases would allow America to maximise the use of its heavy B-52 Stratofortress bombers that are capable of carrying up to 30 of the massive GBU-31 900kg JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munitions). Similarly, the B-1 Lancer can carry 24 of the bombs.
By comparison, the most prominent fighter-bomber in the campaign to date is the F-15 which can fly with between six and nine of the GBU-31s.
“The B-52 is the daddy of bombers as it has amazing payload,” airpower expert Francis Tusa told The National. “Alongside the B-1 and B-2 stealth, all of them carry multiples of what an F-15 can carry and an F-15 is not exactly small.”
Fairford is also the USAF’s key European hub with a significant stockpile of bombs, fuel and spares plus a very long 3.2km runway allowing bombers to take off with full weight. It even has a special hardened shelter for the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers that could also have a significant impact on operations.
The ‘big wave’
The bombers will also free up the more forward-based F-16 and F-15s in Jordan that can now be redirected for “more intensive airborne anti-drone missions” with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, the IISS experts said.
US President Donald Trump has warned that the “big wave” of strikes is yet come, suggesting that there could now be a shift towards attacking the 1.2 million troops in Iran’s IRGC, Basij militia, intelligence services and the Artesh regular army.
These aircraft will now be able to conduct dynamic strike missions, able to rapidly strike targets of opportunity such as ballistic missile launchers and Shahed-136 kamikaze drone squadrons that have attacked Gulf countries.
Strike operations will also benefit from the increased number of MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran used for both surveillance and targeting that can fly now with air supremacy established.
Bombing ballistic factories
But more importantly for Gulf states who have faced missile and drone strikes since Saturday, the use of a new wave of bombers would see Iran’s arms factories, many of which are underground and resilient to just single attacks, subjected to sustained bombardment.
Mr Tusa said the B-1s and B-52s would be used against strategic targets that include destroying Iran's ballistic missile capability.
“They will know where the factories are so they can flatten them. It’s not ‘carpet bombing’ because they are too accurate for that but a B-52 going over an Isfahan engineering works is simply going to roll it up.”
Tim Ripley, editor of Defence Eye publication, also argued the new bases opening up will impact the campaign.
“The difference B-52s and B-1s make is that they can carpet bomb and saturate a bigger area so you can drop 20 to 30 JDAMs in one strike, taking out all taxiways and facilities at an airbase or a big industrial complex in one go,” he said.
He added that shorter flight times would put less stress on airframes and give crews longer rests arguing that the move was another sign that American was embarking on an enduring campaign.
