Analysts estimate Iran's newest nuclear site sits under 80 to 100 meters or more of rock. America has the world's largest conventional bunker-busting bomb. So why does destroying one target take a B-2, an F-22, an F-35, a B-1, a B-52, tankers, jammers, and even a business jet that carries no bombs at all?
The effect on the target
The GBU-57 weighs 30,000 lb and only the B-2 can carry it. Against a target this deep, one bomb is not enough: the attack has to put several penetrators through the same point.
Opening the road and creating volume
Before the bombers arrive, fighters and jammers have to suppress air defenses and keep them suppressed. Other aircraft add volume, so the defenses cannot concentrate on the few aircraft that matter most.
Crossing the distance, keeping the base alive
Tankers make the distance possible, and the bases that launch them have to stay safe while the strike is in the air. Every link in that chain is a place where the campaign can fail, which is why Iran does not have to win to make it fail.
Written by the WarTechX team from the research behind the video. Figures are rounded public numbers; full sources are listed in the video description on YouTube.
