These are added to the three strategic B-52 bombers in Gloucestershire. Officially they will participate in a long-planned exercise. The United States has never re-located the B-2 far from its territory, even when they were employed in Afghanistan missions. They always took off from their refuge in Missouri, at the Whiteman base. But this is not the only consideration on this decision that could prelude to devastating events.
In contemporary strategy, the bombers would seem to play an obsolete role: they are slower and less effective than missiles, both with conventional and nuclear warheads. But in reality, when a B-2 rises in flight, armed with atomic bombs, it means that talks between the belligerents have come to a standstill.
In modern doctrine, the moment of the launch of a group of bombers can be read as a further possibility to smooth out disputes with diplomacy, precisely because they are slower than a missile and can be recalled. The B-2 is a weapon system designed for a surprise attack and its deployment in Britain is equivalent to raising the level of confrontation. The operational connotation of the Spirit is similarly to penetrate deeply into enemy territory without being intercepted by radars.
Presumably, the Russian self-defense forces will have already raised the alarm level, alerting the anti-aircraft positions, putting the interceptors in readiness and preparing armed retaliation.
Giovanni Caprara
(photo: Northrop Grumman)
