Bombs send messages. Yesterday it was announced that the United States sent B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to hit underground Houthi weapons stores. The aim was to frighten Iran.
Using America’s most potent bomber to hit bunkers controlled by a militia force which has no sophisticated air defence systems might seem over the top – a superpower sledgehammer to crack an irritating nut.
However, the early morning raid was far more than a strike on a militia force which has been a persistent threat to Israel and to western commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.
The Pentagon is not confirming what type of munition was dropped by the B-2s. But this bat-winged aircraft, part of the US triad of nuclear delivery systems, is also the only platform in the US Air Force capable of carrying the mighty 30,000lb (15 tons) Massive Ordnance Penetrator or MOP which, with its dense steel casing, can plough through 200 ft of earth, rock and reinforced concrete before exploding.
The MOP, technically a GBU-57, has never been dropped in anger.
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