Reminiscence of a departing gift, President Barack
Obama authorized a strike that obliterated ISIS training camps in Libya. The
Pentagon made the highly unusual decision to conduct the air strikes with a
pair of B-2 stealth bombers that flew to North Africa on a 34-hour mission from
their base in Missouri in America's Midwest. Wednesday's massive strike saw the
B-2s and Reaper drones unleash about 100 bombs on the IS training camps --
equating to more than one bomb per jihadi that was killed. The camps were
located about 45 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the coastal city of Sirte,
Kadhafi's former home town that IS for a time turned into a stronghold as it
attempted to expand its presence in Libya. More than 80 Islamic State jihadists
are reported to have been killed.
The pair of B-2s flew for 34 hours at an operating
cost of approximately $130,000 per flight hour. That comes out to roughly $4.4
million or $8.8 million for the duo. Additionally, there were roughly 15 aerial
refueling aircraft involved in the mission, not to mention the cost of 100
JDAMs. The B-2's last combat deployment was in March 2011 when three aircraft
were used in Operation Odyssey Dawn over Libya. Currently, there are 20 B-2's
in the US Air Force's inventory.
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