Posted on 06/20/2025 7:08:16 AM PDT by Red Badger
The war with Iran proves once again the importance for Israel to have an American strategic bomber as part of the Israeli Air Force's aircraft arsenal.
B-52 Stratofortress Strategic Bomber
The war with Iran proves once again the importance for Israel to have an American strategic bomber as part of the Israeli Air Force's aircraft arsenal. Twice, in 2013, during my tenure as Ambassador in Washington, and later, as a Member of Knesset in 2018, I asked the United States to sell us a strategic bomber. I understood that the U.S. would not be willing to sell us one of their advanced B-1 or B-2 stealth aircraft, but I hoped that they would be willing to part with a Cold War era B-52.
The reason for my initiative was simple. Some day, I knew, Israel would act to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. To achieve that, Israel would have to destroy Iranian enrichment sites, especially numbers of which were heavily fortified and embedded underground. Most challenging was the formerly secret Fordow facility, exposed by Israeli and American intelligence and revealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2009, which was situated hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the mountain.
The Israeli Air Force, armed exclusively with F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets all with relatively short ranges and limited payloads, were incapable of carrying the 30,000 pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator which alone could destroy Fordow. The B-52 bomber, flying at a height of 50,000 feet—twice the altitude of a commercial airliner—was beyond the reach of Iran’s air defenses.
By selling us even one B-52, I told White House officials, the United States would be sending an unequivocal message to the Iranian regime regarding America’s commitment to preventing Iran from producing nuclear bombs.
From the Obama Administration, my request was met with an emphatic “no.” From the first Trump Administration, the answer was "It’s an interesting idea, we’ll think about it.” In reply, I suggested that instead of selling us a plane, the Americans lease one to us. But the response was once again negative. So, too, was their reaction to my final request that an Israeli Air Force crew be able to train on a B-52 just in case one became available.
Today, with the Fordow facility intact, my attempts to procure the means for Israel to destroy it seem justified. Had we possessed even one strategic bomber Israel would not be in the position of wondering whether the United States will perform the task for us. We would mitigate the claims, now being made by both the left and the right in the United States, that Israel is dragging America into another endless Middle Eastern war.
Just as the Biden Administration’s decision not to supply us with certain types of ammunition convinced the Israelis of the need to produce our own artillery shells and tanks, so too must the current war in Iran convince us of the need to develop our own strategic air capabilities. While we greatly appreciate the support we have received and will undoubtedly continue to receive from the Trump Administration, Israel must always strive to be able to defend itself, on its own, against any threat in the Middle East.
This article has been modified from a piece published in Hebrew on YNET.
https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/r1k00mognee
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Tell them to call me. I know a guy...
What’s wrong with the US going ahead and flying a B-2 over there and just doing a few passes over Tehran?
???
Commercial airliners regularly fly between 35,000 to 40,000 feet of altitude.
Since we give Israel the money to "buy" our weapons, we're really giving (not selling) weapons to them.
If they get one make sure they clear coat with that
That would be risky and expensive. The B-2’s will do their business when it counts.
If the USA won’t sell them a B52 they could ask Airbus to sell them a Airbus A400M Atlas it can tote 20 tonnes 3450 nmi at up too FL400. Pallet and ramp launched cargo systems are common for drones, JDAMS, heck the US even air dropped a ICBM out the back of a C5. Cargo bombers is old hat.
It would have been a huge task but if anyone could do it the Israelis could. Convert a civilian jet liner. Expensive but cheap compared to being nuked by Iran.
Have they tried ebay or market place?
What about finding an old Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan[1] from July 1963)[2] was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984?
It's a 70-year old design. They're not asking for the latest and most top secret stuff. Just one plane.
And, in 2012, with the most modern upgrades, Boeing was only gouging the taxpayers for $82m each. That's chicken feed. We can stop giving money to Burma for studies on transsexual turtles and save that much.
We should do what we did for Britain during Lend Lease. Send the planes to Israel, take off the USAF insignia, and replace it with IDF insignia.
Several Vulcans survive, housed in museums in both the United Kingdom and North America (USA and Canada). One Vulcan, XH558 (G-VLCN) Spirit of Great Britain, was used as a display aircraft by the RAF as part of the Vulcan Display Flight until 1993. After being grounded, it was later restored to flight by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust and displayed as a civilian aircraft from 2008 until 2015, before being retired a second time for engineering reasons. In retirement, XH558 is to be retained at its base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport as a taxiable aircraft, a role already performed by two other survivors, XL426 (G-VJET) based at Southend Airport, and XM655 (G-VULC), based at Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield. XJ823, a B.2, can be seen at the Solway Aviation Museum at Carlisle Lake District Airport. XM607 is currently being restored at RAF Waddington, where it has been gate guardian since being retired. XM594 is on display at the Newark Air Museum, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England.
The United States would never, ever, sell a B-52 to anybody, even their most trusted ally. It is a strategic nuclear bomber and I think is covered by some sort of law that says it’s one of those things that nobody else can have.
You would think they could steal the blue prints and build their own. I mean, the thing is 70 years old...how difficult could it be?
Do any former Warsaw Pact countries have any old Soviet bombers?
Well...how about this?
Maybe Vietnam can sell old crashed B-52s for parts. Maybe enough to reconstruct a couple?
Vietnam? They’ve long been turned into beer cans and cooking pots................
That’s what I was thinking.....................
Sounds like it would have been a good deal for us even if they paid for it with our money. They would be the ones taking the risk rather than us putting a B2 and it crew at risk and Israel would be eradicating a facility that could produce a nuclear weapon that could someday be used against us. Pretty cheap means of eliminating a potentially devastating threat. Further if Obama was against it, it was probably a very good idea.
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