The ‘Invisible Defenders’ rolled from aircraft hangers into the muggy Missouri air at the start of a mission destined for the annals of military aviation.
Assembled were nine of the most expensive and advanced aircraft in the world, the B-2 Stealth Bomber, eerily futuristic in appearance and destined to reshape the Middle East.
Even at Whiteman Air Force Base in the US Mid-West the details of the mission were a closely guarded secret.
The bombers slipped into the clammy darkness above Whiteman at just after midnight local time on Saturday at the start of a 37-hour mission that would surprise the world.
Today, that world is adjusting to the implications of Operation Midnight Hammer, a mission marking the end of a 45-year stand-off between the United States and Iran. A vast amount of detail has yet to be released, but the mission was planned and rehearsed years in advance for precisely the situation the US is now confronted by.
