“The B-2s are not the threat, per se. It’s the ordinance they can carry.”
Yep, neither is a B-52, B-1, or a nuke sub. Thank God, we do not build them with an inability to carry ordinance.
I was thinking specifically of the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator.
30,000 pounds, and each B-2 can carry 2. One to dig a deep hole, the second to deliver the deeper hit and destructive shockwave/overpressure.
And for the secondary targets, there’s more B-2s behind the first ;-)
I believe these are an overt message to Tehran.
The B-2s are just one component of a strike package.
The CVNs in theater field the Growlers and the F-35s with the Block 4 AN/ASQ-239 EW package. Those and other suppressive assets can blind the Iranians, but once you fire those up, they’d know there was ordinance inbound. They could attempt to defend, or lash out.
Ya have to bear in mind that the Israelis went DEEP into Iran and killed the finest anti-air assets the Russians had to offer - with the F-35i. (and their variant of the F-15)
The beauty of the B-2 is that the Iranians in Tehran will know when they are hit only when the seismographs go off.
The B-52s and B-1s (not on DG right now) are fabulous missile trucks. They could be part of any strike package, but they are *HOURS* in the air away from the AO.