• Earlier this week, B-2 Spirit stealth bombers performed a mass launch as part of a major exercise.

• Photos show the bombers taking off from Whiteman Air Force Base.

• The Air Force’s B-2 bombers have enormous firepower coupled with barely recognizable characteristics.

More than half of the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 Spirit stealth bombers conducted a large-scale exercise earlier this week, carrying out a massive attack flight.

Photos show the aircraft – known for its flying wing design and stealth capabilities to penetrate even sophisticated enemy defenses and deliver a devastating conventional or nuclear attack – taxiing on the runway before takeoff.

The B-2s took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Monday, concluding the annual Spirit Vigilance exercise, which is designed to demonstrate the capabilities and readiness of the base’s B-2s. This year’s exercise included the largest mass launch of B-2s ever, involving 12 of the 20 active aircraft. The second largest launch in 2022 involved eight aircraft.

According to the Air Force, the B-2, a two-man strategic bomber from Northrop Grumman, can “deliver enormous firepower through previously impenetrable defenses anywhere in the world in a short period of time.” Its stealth capabilities allow it to do things that other aircraft, such as the B-52 and B-1 bombers, cannot.

Video footage of the recent exercise released from Whiteman Air Force Base, The only operational B-2 base showed how the B-2 bombers were prepared for takeoff before they reached the runway and took off.

Decades after its initial introduction in the early 1990s, the B-2 remains relevant today.

The bomber was first used in the Kosovo War in 1999, where it attacked Serbian targets with conventional munitions. It also flew missions over Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict areas.

Its stealth capabilities, payload capacity and potential to conduct long-range attacks make it a formidable aircraft and deterrent to US competitors. For a long time it was the world’s only stealth bomber, but the US is making progress in developing a new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, which made its first flight in November last year.

As a penetrating stealth bomber, the B-21 is intended, according to the US military, to “form the backbone of the future bomber fleet of the US Air Force”.

Currently, however, the B-2 is the stealth bomber of choice because of the aircraft’s ability to threaten the adversary’s “most important and heavily defended targets. Its ability to penetrate air defenses and threaten effective retaliation provides a strong, effective deterrent and combat force well into the 21st century,” the Air Force said.

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