Why are B-2 stealth bombers being deployed to Guam, and what could come next?

As the warfare betwixt Iran and Israel continues, Fox News confirmed earlier reports that B-2 stealth bombers took disconnected from Whiteman Air Force Base successful Missouri and headed to Guam. 

A Reuters report, quoting 1 U.S. official, said nary bid was fixed to determination the planes beyond Guam. Reuters said it wasn't wide if the deployment was linked to the rising tensions successful the Middle East. 

The UK Defense Journal reports the stealth bombers were accompanied by 8 KC-135 Stratotankers, which would let for midair refueling. The diary suggests the bombers’ eventual destination whitethorn beryllium Diego Garcia, a U.S. basal successful the Indian Ocean.

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A representation shows the region from Whiteman AFB to Iran. (Fox News)

Here’s what to cognize astir the way that the B-2s mightiness take, the relation Diego Garcia has played amid escalating tensions with Iran and wherefore the B-2s are captious to a imaginable ngo astatine the well-fortified Iranian atomic tract astatine Fordow.

What is the B-2s’ apt destination?

Retired Navy Cdr. Jim "Puck" Howe told Fox News Digital the stealth bombers "can easy marque it" to Guam successful a azygous formation with 1 mid-air refueling. Howe said the Stratotankers’ substance capacities are improbable to support the B-2s aloft if their eventual destination is the "significantly farther" island basal of Diego Garcia. 

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A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit, deployed from the 131st Bomb Wing, Missouri Air National Guard, takes disconnected from Andersen Air Base Guam aft completing a blistery pit refuel Sept. 10, 2024.  (U.S. Air Force photograph by Tech. Sgt. Eric Summers Jr.)

Howe says that portion the U.S. "could onslaught [Fordow] from Guam," it "makes a batch much sense" to motorboat an onslaught from Diego Garcia owed to its proximity to Iran.

What is Diego Garcia?

Diego Garcia is simply a basal 2,400 miles southbound of Iran. Its strategical worth lies successful its deep-water port, a agelong runway that is "capable of accommodating dense bombers and precocious outer connection systems," Aero-News Journal reports.

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A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber takes disconnected from Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia to enactment a bomber task unit ngo Aug. 17, 2020. (U.S. Air Force photograph by Tech. Sgt. Heather Salazar)

The U.S. has utilized the basal erstwhile managing threats from Iran successful the past. Two B-2s were deployed to Diego Garcia successful March. The Islamic Republic of Iran threatened to attack the U.S. basal successful April. 

It is unclear whether immoderate Iranian ballistic missiles are capable of reaching Diego Garcia. U.S. troops crossed the Middle East are said to look accrued hazard of onslaught should the U.S. participate the conflict.

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An Airman assigned to the 393rd Bomber Generation Squadron marshals successful a B-2 Spirit astatine Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., May 9, 2025.  (U.S. Air Force photograph by Senior Airman Bryson Sherard)

Why are B-2s captious successful the existent conflict?

Each stealth bomber is susceptible of carrying 2 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, which are believed to beryllium the astir effectual means of destroying the Iranian atomic tract astatine Fordow, which whitethorn beryllium dug successful betwixt 300 feet and 2,600 feet beneath a rocky mountain.

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital "destroying [Fordow] from the aerial is simply a occupation lone the U.S. tin do." 

Reuters contributed to this report.