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In the last few days, the US has been deploying B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Diego Garcia, a strategic US military base in the British Indian Ocean Territory. This ominous development is almost certainly related to Trump’s ultimatum to Iran, issued on March 20th, which basically amounts to “Negotiate or be bombed”.

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Ironically, the US plans to use this base, despite its dark history, to strike Iran, viewing it as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier”—much like Britain saw its bases during WWII. While the B-2 is a formidable weapon, is it truly invincible? Similar claims were made about the F-117 Nighthawk after the 1991 Gulf War.

It should be remembered that the invisibility of a bombing was rudely shattered by the Serbs in 1999, when they shot down one F-117, and, as was recently revealed, damaged a second beyond repair. There are also long-standing claims, needless to say denied by the US, that Serbian air defences damaged a B-2. The most interesting thing is that Serbia shot down one F-117 and damaged another using the elderly S-125 Neva/Pechora Surface to Air Missile (SAM) system (NATO reporting name SA-3 Goa), a system introduced in 1961.

Compare this with the far more advanced systems used by Iran, both Russian and domestically produced SAM systems such as the S-200 (SA-5) and S-300 (Buk) systems from Russia, and the new Arman Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM), and the Bavar-373 and Sayyyad-2 long-range missiles, which can hit targets at maximum ranges of up to 230km, as well as a host of medium, short range, and man portable systems. Like Russia, the Iranians operate a layered air defense system far superior, and far more formidable, than anything the US has faced since Vietnam half a century ago.