The United States has deployed at least five B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Diego Garcia, with reports suggesting the number could be as high as seven — a major buildup of the advanced bombers at the remote Indian Ocean base near the Middle East.
There has been independent confirmation that three B-2s have already arrived at the British territory, alongside seven KC-135 refueling tankers, multiple C-17 cargo planes, and possibly a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Additional B-2s using the callsign “Abba” recently departed Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where all 20 of the Air Force’s B-2 fleet is normally based.
“A B-2 Spirit bomber arrived at Hickam Air Force Base,” Air Force Global Strike Command told reporters in a statement, acknowledging that one bomber, using callsign Pitch 13, made an emergency landing in Hawaii en route to Diego Garcia.
The buildup comes amid escalating tensions with Houthi militants in Yemen and growing warnings to Iran from the Trump administration.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also extended the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group’s deployment in the Red Sea and directed a second carrier group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, to join it in the region. F-35A Joint Strike Fighters have reportedly been deployed to the Middle East as well.
“Freedom of navigation is basic; it’s a core national interest,” Hegseth said on March 15. “The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships [and] we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end but, until then, it will be unrelenting.”
The Houthis are a radical Islamic terrorist group that has been shooting at various ships in the Red Sea for months in an attempt to disrupt global trade. The terrorists claim at least 53 people were killed in the latest round of U.S. strikes, the largest military operation in the Middle East since President Trump took office in January 2025. These strikes followed a security breach when journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently included in Signal app discussions among administration officials planning Houthi strikes.
Trump has issued direct warnings to Iran regarding its support for the Houthis and its nuclear ambitions.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on March 17.
The B-2s’ deployment is particularly significant as these aircraft can carry 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, which are specifically designed to strike deeply buried and fortified targets, of which there are many in Iran. Diego Garcia’s location also puts it beyond the reach of Iranian and Houthi missiles.
A U.S. official speaking to Reuters suggested military operations may continue “for weeks,” indicating the buildup is part of a sustained campaign rather than a short-term show of force.
Diego Garcia has historically served as a key staging point for U.S. strikes in the Middle East, including during the opening phases of operations in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The scale of the current deployment has raised eyebrows in the region.
The Department of Defense has not formally confirmed the purpose of the deployment, but White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino recently posted a video of a B-2 bomber on social media without providing context.
B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber🔥 pic.twitter.com/cw5SRsNSAQ
— Dan Scavino Jr.🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) March 26, 2025