The Pentagon has posted three Air Force pictures of a B-2 Spirit bomber squadron deployed in April to a remote airbase in Diego Garcia that shows one of the B-2s taking off “to conduct a combat mission,” along with two other images showing a B-2 and a KC-135 Stratotanker taking off on the same day.

“Six B-2s and approximately 250 personnel deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, as the 393d Expeditionary Bomb Squadron to conduct combat missions from Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory,” the caption for the photo of the KC-135 says. “The B-2s were supported by KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft and personnel assigned to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing from Fairchild AFB, Washington.”

The dates on the three photos match a day of particularly intense bombing in Yemen during a three-month U.S. bombing campaign in which B-2s were reported to have participated. The operation also included a major use of Navy fighters from the USS Truman and conventional Air Force planes based at regional bases.  

The images were posted on Thursday to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, or DVIDS, an online archive of photos and videos produced by military photographers and public affairs troops that is accessible to the public.

Though the photos are fairly innocuous, Air Force officials rarely post B-2 photos during operational combat flights. 

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber departs from Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, to conduct a combat mission, April 19, 2025. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Anthony Hetlage.</figcaption></figure>

Dated April 19, the pictures do not specify where the bombers flew their combat missions, but at the time, B-2 bombers based in Diego Garcia were taking part in the U.S. military’s campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, known as Operation Rough Rider.

Al Jazeera reported that  U.S. warplanes attacked a port and airport in Hodeidah, Yemen, on April 19, among more than a dozen strikes.

When asked for more information about the mission that the B-2 bombers in the pictures were flying, an Eighth Air Force spokesperson provided Task & Purpose with the following statement: “Eighth Air Force units routinely conduct global operations in coordination with combatant commands, services, and participating U.S. government agencies to deter, detect and, if necessary, defeat strategic attacks against the United States and its Allies. To preserve operational security, we do not discuss details about exercises or operations.”

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft takes off from Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, April 19, 2025. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Anthony Hetlage.</figcaption></figure>

Operation Rough Rider lasted from March 15 until May 6, when President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire brokered by Oman. By then, the U.S. planes had struck more than 1,000 Houthi targets, according to the Pentagon.

Then in June, B-2 bombers attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities, dropping 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, each of which weighed about 30,000 pounds. Dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, the mission was the largest B-2 bomber strike in history and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown.

Houthi air defenses more formidable than expected

The Yemen operations revealed a Houthi air defense system more advanced than expected, said retired Air Force Col. Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 test pilot, making direct assaults by the U.S. military’s non-stealthy aircraft riskier.

Because B-2s are stealth aircraft, they can strike targets within heavily defended airspace, said Gunzinger, who is currently the director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“So that is why we have B-2s and other stealthy aircraft that can carry weapons that are optimized to strike hardened and deeply buried targets, like they did during Midnight Hammer,” Gunzinger said. “Those are very short-range weapons, called direct attack weapons. They’re gravity weapons. Even though they have guide units on them, they aren’t capable of really gliding long ranges.” 

The B-2’s long range also allows the U.S. military to strike targets in Yemen, Iran, and elsewhere without having to deploy forces to the region, which can tip off an adversary to pending operations, he said.

“Everyone knows, hey, the Navy is moving an aircraft carrier into the Red Sea — it’s kind of hard to miss that,” Gunzinger said. “Well, it’s much, much, much more challenging to determine whether or not someone has launched a bomber strike from Whiteman or Minot [Air Force Base], or elsewhere.”

The post Air Force publishes photos of B-2 bomber squadron flying ‘to conduct combat missions’ appeared first on Task & Purpose.