Bombers from Missouri base involved in U.S. strike on Iran, officials confirm
Several of the bomber planes which carried out attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran Saturday came from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, including the aircraft responsible for dropping “bunker bombs” on the strike’s primary target, state and national leaders confirmed Saturday night and Sunday morning.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday evening on social media that the U.S. military had struck three nuclear facilities in Iran. The attacks took place around 2:30 a.m. Sunday local time in Iran, according to the New York Times.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Eshafan,” Trump said in a Truth Social post at 6:50 p.m. EDT.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a Sunday morning briefing from the Pentagon that this weekend’s bombing was the “largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history”, CBS News and the Associated Press reported.
Caine said that seven B-2 Spirit stealth bomber planes flew 18 hours from Missouri to Iran to carry out the strike. According to a graphic released Sunday morning by the Pentagon, the bombers left Whiteman at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday and entered Iranian airspace with other military aircraft at 6 p.m. EDT. Caine said that a total of 125 planes were involved in the attack, the BBC reported.
The fleet dropped bombs on the three nuclear sites between 6:40 and 7 p.m. EDT and left Iranian airspace at 7:30, according to the Pentagon. All seven B-2s involved in the strike had returned to Whiteman as of Sunday morning, according to the Pentagon.
In messages shared on social media Saturday evening, Trump referred to Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, a uranium enrichment plant concealed in a mountain about 100 miles south of Tehran, as the U.S. fleet’s primary target.
During Sunday’s Pentagon briefing, Caine said that the seven B-2 bombers released 14 GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs on the Fordow plant. The 30,000-pound bombs work by penetrating deep below the surface of the Earth before detonating, and can be used to either destroy a target area or cause the structures supporting it to collapse.
Whiteman Air Force Base is located in Johnson County, Missouri, just south of Knob Noster, Missouri and about an hour and a half southeast of Kansas City. Whiteman has hosted the nation’s fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers full-time since the first B-2 arrived in 1993, and is currently the only air force base from which the bombers can be launched, according to the base.
B-2 bombers are produced by Northrop Grumman and flown exclusively by Air Force personnel. The national fleet at Whiteman currently consists of 19 B-2 bombers, USA Today reported.
The website for Whiteman describes B-2 bombers as “stealth”, “multi-role” vehicles capable of dropping both traditional and nuclear munitions. Each plane holds two pilots, a smaller operating capacity than similar bomber planes flown from the base in the past.
The first B-2 bomber at Whiteman was delivered to the base in 1993, according to the base. The Missouri-based fleet has been used in Operation Allied Force and Operation Enduring Freedom, with its first combat deployment taking place during Operation Iraqi Freedom and consisting of 49 separate flights and more than 1.5 million pounds of dropped munitions.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Sunday that the weekend’s strikes were “intentionally limited” to the three nuclear development sites, the Associated Press reported.
““The scope of this was intentionally limited, that’s the message that we’re sending, with the capabilities of the American military nearly unlimited,” the AP reported that Hegseth told reporters. “So Iran, in that sense, has a choice.”
“Strength in pursuit of peace”
Several Kansas and Missouri politicians weighed in on the bombing Saturday night and Sunday morning in posts on X, formerly Twitter, offering praise for the strike team and those stationed at Whiteman in general.
“As the Congressman for Whiteman AFB, I’ve been saying for weeks that our airmen in the 509th bomber wing are ready, capable, and lethal,” U.S. Rep. Mark Alford wrote Saturday evening. “Tonight, they showed the world what they can do to protect American interests and keep our citizens safe.”
“Thank you to our brave American Air Force and their successful mission as no Americans were harmed,” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall wrote Saturday evening. “We stand tall with President Trump who is protecting the world from a nuclear capable Iran.”
Missouri governor Mike Kehoe wrote that Missourians “strongly support” Trump’s actions against nuclear facilities in Iran.
“Tonight, President Trump and our brave military demonstrated the importance of strength in pursuit of peace,” Kehoe wrote.
In response to Saturday’s military strikes, Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas released a statement urging Congress to pull back on potential further action.
“Having spent time recently with Missouri-based Air Force bomber pilots and crews, I am heartened all are safe,” Lucas wrote in a Sunday morning press release. “I pray now for the safety of all of our servicemen and women in the Middle East and around the world, which should involve Congressional review and authorization before we enter into another extended conflict in the Middle East.
Whiteman Air Force Base declined to speak directly with The Star Sunday morning.
This story was originally published June 22, 2025 at 11:10 AM.
