USAF general says special bomber aircraft with ‘remarkable’ features required to wreck Iran's nuclear site

WASHINGTON, DC: A retired Air Force officer has said that if the US plans to bomb Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, it would need a special bomber aircraft with "remarkable" features.

Retired Lt Gen Mark Weatherington, a former commander of the 8th Air Force, revealed to Fox News that only America’s B-2 bomber can take down 30,000-pound MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) on the nuke site.

He explained to the chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin, “The B-2 is a very unique aircraft in the American arsenal. There's no other airplane like it. No one else in the world has this type of capability. It's a low-observable aircraft with a large payload; extreme range.”

Retired Air Force officer says ‘B-2 is a very technologically advanced’

“And [is] the only aircraft that can carry a GBU-57, the large 30,000 lb bunker-buster weapon that we're discussing today,” Weatherington shared, as he noted, “The B-2 is a remarkable airplane, very technologically advanced. It's a flying wing.”

“It handles very well. It's not as fast as some of the other aircraft in the inventory, but it's designed really to evade radar, to evade detection, to manage its signature and so it can get to places that nothing else can get to. It carries a very large payload,” the former commander added.

Weatherington also shared with Griffin that the B-2s are currently placed at Whiteman AFB in Knob Noster, Missouri.

Former CENTCOM intel officer says tactics are important

Besides, Griffin talked with former CENTCOM intel officer Todd Sawhill, a Naval intelligence adviser to the Joint Staff on Mideast targets, who claimed that if MOPs are deployed properly, it can “absolutely” wreck Iran's nuclear place.

“But there's variables that are going to be at play in a case like that,” he mentioned.

Sawhill further added that “as with any operation and having been involved with multiple strike operations in the region for the better part of the last 20 years, a lot of this depends on if the tactics were carried out correctly, if the munition performed the way it was supposed to.”

Expert doubts B-2 will be used against Iran

However, the officer also shared with Griffin that “it’s unlikely that we would ever put a B-2 forward stage in the Middle East, because it's such a high-value asset that it leaves itself to increased vulnerability to attack, particularly in a situation like this where tensions continue to escalate and the risk of miscalculation is high.”

“You want to keep those strategic assets farther away so you can make sure you can use them at a time and place of your choosing,” Sawhill asserted.