Following the initiation of a giant scale U.S. and Israeli air assault towards Iran on February, the USA was confirmed to be launching strikes on a missile base in Khosrowshah, in addition to on targets within the mountains of Sahand, Urmia, Bandar Abbas, and Qom, that are thought to host ballistic missile associated amenities. The Iranian ballistic missile deterrent has for many years been a major issue constraining U.S. and broader Western Bloc choices for launching assaults towards the nation, with missile strikes having been launched towards U.S. and Israeli navy amenities and different strategic targets throughout the Center East. Whereas throughout prior assaults on the Iran in June 2025 the USA didn’t deploy its plane for a sustained marketing campaign to focus on missile websites, and launched solely a restricted strike on nuclear amenities, destroying the missile arsenal is important for a a lot bigger scale U.S. assault with wider reaching targets to succeed.
Operations aimed toward destroying the Iranian ballistic missile arsenal face a number of challenges. Iran’s missiles largely use stable gasoline composites and deploy from cell transporter-erector launchers, which permits them to quickly redeploy and keep quick firing cycles. The nation has additionally with North Korean help constructed missile storage amenities very deep underground, usually below mountains, which assaults by cruise missiles and the massive majority of air-launched weapons will battle to significantly threaten. America within the early 2000s developed the GBU-57 penetrative bomb particularly to have the ability to neutralise such targets, with the bomb having been designed to be used by the nation’s single squadron of B-2 stealth bombers, and permitting a number of bombers to ‘layer’ assaults to attain better penetration.
Though analysts have extensively famous that the very small measurement of the B-2 fleet at simply 19 plane considerably limits its utility, with the Air Power reported in mid-February to be working to maintain the fleet at unusually excessive ranges of operational readiness to organize for potential assaults on Iran, an extra constraint to the potential use of the plane to strike underground missile websites stays the intense shortages of GBU-57 bombs. Essentially the most fast reason behind the scarcity was using 14 GBU-57 bombs throughout Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 to focus on nuclear amenities at Fordow and Natanz, inflicting an enormous drawdown of the accessible stock. The strike uncovered the dangers of getting a really small pool of the associated fee bombs. Estimates for the remaining variety of bombs stand at between six and 15 bombs. The potential use of the bombs to strike closely fortified Yemeni targets in October 2024, when using B-2s was confirmed, has additional raised uncertainty concerning remaining portions.
With every bomb is estimated to price over $370 million, the GBU-57 was by no means produced in massive numbers, and is taken into account a high-value, low-density munition. A important situation highlighted after strikes on Iran in June is the U.S. authorities depends on a single contractor, Boeing, which owns the mental property for the bomb’s important tail equipment steerage system. This “vendor lock” prevents the federal government can not simply sourcing elements from different producers to shortly improve manufacturing or resolve elements obsolescence. To fulfill pressing replenishment wants after the strikes, the Air Power needed to award a sole-source contract to Boeing, whereas reverse-engineering one element from the ATACMS ballistic missile system. The availability chain points mirror broader points which have affected the U.S. defence sector more and more severely for the reason that finish of the Chilly Conflict because of the contraction of trade.
Whereas a contract valued at over $100 million was awarded to Boeing in early 2026 to supply new tail kits and different elements, deliveries of replenishment GBU-57 bombs are solely anticipated to start in 2028. With out close to time period replenishment of the stock, the B-2 fleet shall be impeded in its capacity to strike closely fortified targets in Iran, together with underground missile bases, with no non-nuclear weapons within the U.S. or allied arsenals having comparable harmful potentials. A successor to the GBU-57 is presently below improvement, and can reportedly be smaller to permit for its carriage by the B-21 subsequent era bomber, which was designed to be lighter than the B-2 to make it extra reasonably priced for big scale procurements. There stays important uncertainty concerning how the USA will strategy the problem posed by Iran’s closely fortified underground missile bases.
