US bombers hit Iran after nonstop flight from South Dakota

Tuesday 03 March 2026 - 10:21

By: Dakir Madiha

US bombers hit Iran after nonstop flight from South Dakota

Three US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flew nonstop from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to strike Iranian military targets overnight, in the second long-range bomber mission of Operation Epic Fury as the joint US Israeli campaign entered its third day on Monday. The aircraft, tracked on open-source flight monitoring under the callsigns BONE 01, BONE 02, and BONE 03, crossed the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and refueled multiple times in the air, supported by KC-46A Pegasus tankers operating from Lajes Airport in the Azores and Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

The latest mission followed confirmed strikes by four B-2 Spirit stealth bombers that hit hardened underground ballistic missile facilities during the first night of the operation. US Central Command said the B-2s, flying from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, dropped 2,000 pound bombs including GBU-31 munitions on buried missile sites in Iran, a description echoed by a US defense official quoted by Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin. The shift from stealth B-2s to non stealth B-1Bs suggests Washington and Jerusalem now judge Iranian air defenses to be degraded after more than 48 hours of continuous strikes, with the Israel Defense Forces reporting the HQ-9B system around Tehran neutralized and CENTCOM saying more than 1,000 targets were hit in the opening phase.

Operation Epic Fury began on 28 February, when President Trump announced the campaign in a Truth Social post at around 2:00 a.m. Eastern time, launching in parallel with Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion. The joint offensive has focused on leadership compounds, missile production and launch sites, air defenses, command and control hubs, and naval assets, with coordinated strikes killing at least 40 senior Iranian military and political figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose death was later confirmed by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At a Pentagon briefing, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the campaign would not become an endless war and framed its objectives as dismantling Tehran’s missile capabilities, naval forces, and security infrastructure, while CENTCOM reported three US service members killed and five seriously wounded, all from ground units based in Kuwait.

Iran has retaliated with waves of missile and drone attacks against Israel, US bases, and Gulf Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, where Iranian drones struck Dubai International Airport and a nearby hotel. Trump has warned that any further escalation from Tehran will be met with “force that has never been seen before,” as regional governments brace for more attacks and disruption across the Gulf.