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Bombers made 18 round-trip flights from the US to strike Iran, each spending more than 30 hours in the air

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American bombers made numerous round-trip flights from the US to strike Iran, with each aircraft spending over a day in the air to execute these missions.

Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Wednesday that the US staged 62 bomber missions during Operation Epic Fury before the Trump administration said it reached a ceasefire with Iran Tuesday evening.

Eighteen of those bomber missions involved round-trip flights from the US “to deliver bombs on military targets” in Iran, and each one lasted more than 30 hours in duration, Caine said in a debrief of the five-week war.

“No other military in the world can do that,” the general said, “and it’s a testament to the logistical force that quietly serves behind them.”

Caine didn’t specify the point of origin, but the 30-hour missions likely involved B-2 Spirit stealth bombers out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and refueled en route by KC-135 tankers. Other American bomber aircraft — the B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress — took off from bases in the UK for missions in support of Epic Fury.


US Air Force crew chiefs perform pre-flight checks on a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber during Operation Epic Fury, March 17, 2026.

Crews perform pre-flight checks on a B-2 during Operation Epic Fury last month. 

US Air Force photo



B-2s from Whiteman completed similar long-distance bombing runs during Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 mission to strike Iran’s nuclear sites with 30,000-pound bunker-buster munitions.

US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said this week that more than 13,000 targets in Iran were struck since the war began in late February.

Caine said these included air defense systems, ballistic missile and one-way attack drone storage facilities, warships, naval mines, and weapons production factories, among other military targets. A majority of Iran’s facilities were destroyed, US officials said.

The US, Iran, and Israel agreed on Tuesday to a two-week ceasefire just ahead of a deadline that President Donald Trump set for Tehran to either make a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the death of its civilization — a threat that received widespread global condemnation.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that it carried out strikes inside Iran overnight but has since held fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the ceasefire agreement does not include the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, several Gulf states reported Iranian attacks on Wednesday. The United Arab Emirates, for instance, said that Tehran launched 17 ballistic missiles and 35 drones since the ceasefire took effect.




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F-15E Strike Eagles, deployed during Operation Epic Fury, can fly 2.5 times the speed of sound. Take a closer look.

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  • The US Air Force deployed F-15E Strike Eagles during Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
  • The fighter jets are designed for air-to-air and air-to-ground combat in all weather, day or night.
  • Kuwait mistakenly shot down three F-15E Strike Eagles in a “friendly fire” incident, CENTCOM said.

F-15E Strike Eagles, fighter jets designed for air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, are usually a dominating force in the skies.

When three F-15E Strike Eagles were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait during Operation Epic Fury, it brought renewed attention to one of the Air Force’s fastest, most versatile aircraft.

Here’s a closer look at the F-15E Strike Eagle, an advanced aircraft the US is using to destroy Iran’s missile arsenal and drone bases from the skies above Iran.

The F-15E Strike Eagle has been in service in the US Air Force for nearly 40 years.

An F-15E Strike Eagle at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jasmine Thomas

The first F-15A model flew in 1972, and the first F-15Es were produced in 1988, according to the US Air Force.

It’s the fastest crewed aircraft in the US Air Force.


An F-15E Strike Eagle flies through the sky.

An F-15E Strike Eagle during an exercise at Gando Air Base in Gran Canaria, Spain. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Davis

The air-to-air and air-to-ground attack aircraft can fly at 1,875 miles per hour, or 2.5 times the speed of sound.

The F-15E Strike Eagle’s high thrust-to-weight ratio enables it to accelerate during vertical climb.


An F-15E Strike Eagle.

An F-15E Strike Eagle in flight. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tylin Rust

The high thrust-to-weight ratio also allows the F-15E Strike Eagle to execute tight turns without sacrificing speed. It has two Pratt & Whitney F100 engines, each producing over 23,000 pounds of thrust.

Another distinguishing capability is the plane’s head-up display, which projects flight and tactical information directly on the windscreen.


The head-up display on a C-17 Globemaster III.

The head-up display on a C-17 aircraft. 

U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. John Linzmeier

Pilots can track and attack targets, check the status of weapons, and see other tactical and flight information without taking their eyes off the windscreen.

The fighter jet also includes a low-altitude navigation and targeting infrared for night (LANTIRN) system.


The underside of an F-15E Strike Eagle.

The underside of an F-15E Strike Eagle. 

U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Olivia Gibson

The LANTIRN system allows the planes to fly in any weather and attack ground targets at low altitudes. The system consists of two pods, a navigation pod and a targeting pod, mounted under the plane.

F-15E Strike Eagles can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons.


Loading an AIM-120 missile onto an F-15E Strike Eagle

US Air Force crew members load an AIM-120 missile onto an F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. 

Airman 1st Class Donovin Watson/366th Fighter Wing

Its armament includes an internally mounted 20-millimeter gun with 500 rounds of ammunition, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, and AIM-120 AMRAAMs, an acronym for the radar-guided Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles.

The F-15 also regularly carries ground attack weapons like the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, a kit that adapts an unguided munition into a “smart” bomb with fins and GPS guidance.

F-15E Strike Eagles are flown by a pilot and a weapons systems officer.


The cockpit of an F-15E Strike Eagle.

The cockpit of an F-15E Strike Eagle. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Aidan Martínez Rosiere

The weapon system officer sits directly behind the pilot, and closely manages the plane’s sensors and weapons.

Two variants of the F-15 are single-seaters: the F-15A and F-15C.

The planes can fly 2,400 miles without refueling, and can be refueled in flight.


An F-15E Strike Eagle receives in-flight refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker.

An F-15E Strike Eagle receives in-flight refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker during an exercise over the Atlantic Ocean. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Cody J. A. Mott

F-15E Strike Eagles have a fuel capacity of 35,550 pounds.

The fighter jets can be refueled in flight by KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, which Boeing developed from its “Dash 80” prototype in the 1950s.

KC-135s were also deployed to Israel as part of Operation Epic Fury. One crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, killing six US service members. United States Central Command said the circumstances of the crash were under investigation, but it “was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”

Each F-15E cost $31.1 million to produce in 1998, according to US Air Force figures. That would be around $62.3 million when adjusted for inflation.


F-15E Strike Eagles at Travis Air Force Base in California.

F-15E Strike Eagles parked at Travis Air Force Base in California. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Kenneth Abbate

Newer F-15 models cost around $100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The newest version of the aircraft is the F-15EX Eagle II, which features more advanced controls and upgraded engines.

On March 1, Kuwait’s air defenses mistakenly shot down three American F-15Es during Operation Epic Fury in what US Central Command described as a “friendly fire incident.”


F-15E Strike Eagles in the Middle East.

F-15E Strike Eagles at an undisclosed base in the Middle East. 

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jared Brewer

All six crew members ejected safely. The incident is under investigation.

“Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation,” CENTCOM said.




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Photos show damage to Dubai luxury tourist hotspot after Iranian strike

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  • The US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Saturday.
  • Iran’s retaliation involved strikes across six Gulf nations.
  • Photos taken during and after the strikes showed damage to a luxury hotel in Dubai and other spots.

The attacks launched by the US and Israel on Iran escalated on Saturday, with retaliatory strikes hitting nations across the Gulf.

Hours into what the Trump administration is calling Operation Epic Fury, Iran responded with attacks on more than six countries, from Dubai to Bahrain. Iran said it targeted bases that host US forces in the Middle East.

Satellite pictures also show extensive damage to Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei’s residence. Khamenei was killed on Saturday, though it is still unclear if he was at the Tehran compound when it was struck.

Intercepted missiles were seen streaking across the sky in Dubai, a tourist hotspot, and their debris appeared to spark fires and other issues. Fairmont’s famous luxury property on the Palm was hit.

Chaos was also abound at airports, amid mass flight cancellations as planes scrambled to clear the airspace over Iran.




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Ukraine says its own Flamingo missiles flew nearly 900 miles to strike Russian Iskander factory

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that his country had struck a Russian military industrial plant with locally made cruise missiles that flew nearly 900 miles to reach their target.

Ukrainian officials earlier reported that the missile strike on Saturday had hit a plant in Votkinsk, an industrial town in Russia’s Udmurt Republic, some 860 miles from the Ukrainian border.

“We carried out precise strikes with Flamingo missiles at a range of 1,400 kilometers,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Kyiv. “I believe this is truly a success for our industry.”

Such an attack would be one of the longest-range strikes carried out so far by the Flamingo, which is touted as one of the star products in Ukraine’s local defense manufacturing scene. Kyiv has been aggressively trying to expand its weapons industry as a complement to Western supplies and as a future export sector.

The Flamingos’ target, the Votkinsk plant, manufactures some of Russia’s key munitions, such as ballistic missiles for the Iskander system and the submarine-launched Bulava missile.

Russia has not officially confirmed that the factory was hit, but Alexander Brechalov, the governor of the Udmurt Republic, said on Saturday that an unspecified facility in the region had been attacked and three people were sent to hospital.

Brechalov did not say if the Flamingo was used, but warned against drone threats over the region.

Ukrainian open-source groups later published satellite images that appeared to show damage to one of the workshops at the Votkinsk factory, with a gaping hole in its roof and signs of fire damage.

That evening, Kyiv had unleashed a large wave of drones and missiles into Russia in one of its biggest ever long-range attacks.

Russia’s defense ministry said that it shot down 77 Ukrainian drones on Saturday, but did not mention any Ukrainian missile threats.

Zelenskyy declined to say how many missiles or drones Ukraine launched in total on Saturday.

“There were interceptions by Russian air defense, there were also missiles that were not intercepted, and there were direct hits,” Zelenskyy said. “But the most important thing is that all the missiles that were launched all reached the target.”

Kyiv has often compared the Flamingo to the US-manufactured Tomahawk, saying that the Ukrainian turbofan-powered missile is much cheaper to make per unit and has a longer range of 1,900 miles.

The ground-launched Flamingo, however, takes up to 40 minutes to prepare for launch.

Ukraine is also still trying to build up its arsenal of the missile, with reports from last October saying that its manufacturer, FirePoint, hoped to produce up to seven a day by the end of 2025.

Kyiv said earlier this month that manufacturing had been affected by a recent Russian strike, with Zelenskyy warning that Ukraine had to “work on increasing quantity” of the Flamingo.

“We had certain technical problems because one large production line was destroyed as a result of a missile strike. They have already relocated and resumed production,” Zelenskyy had said at the time.




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Skeptical of the ‘SaaSpocalypse’? Bill Gurley says you should channel your inner Warren Buffett and strike

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Bill Gurley has some suggestions on how you might invest in the so-called SaaSpocalypse if you believe the companies still have value.

Software-as-a-Service stocks have stumbled to start 2026. Investors worry that new AI generative tools — particularly Claude Code’s latest app-building update — could become direct competitors with legacy SaaS giants like Salesforce, Atlassian, and DocuSign.

Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Gurley, the longtime Benchmark general partner, acknowledged the concerns and compared it to another disruptive moment in tech.

“Right after Facebook went public, there was a concern about this mobile transition, and their stock went from $42 to like $18. That was fear of a technology disruption,” he said.

Still, Gurley emphasized that today’s SaaS fears feel unusually widespread.

“I’ve never seen a disruption that had this much anxiety and go across so many companies,” he said.

Yet he noted that even AI-native companies aren’t abandoning traditional software vendors. Anthropic, which makes the Claude chatbot, uses tools from Workday and Salesforce, he said.

“They’re paying for these things,” he said.

If the stocks continue to fall, Gurley suggested that investors who believe in the SaaS companies channel Warren Buffett, who has long argued that moments of panic are the perfect time to buy.

“You shouldn’t be blogging about what’s wrong with the prices,” he said. “You should be quiet and picking them up off the floor.”

He’s worried about circular investment


A person walks on a pathway toward AMD's glass-filled offices. There is a gray sign outside that says the company's name

AMD and Meta just announced a deal on Tuesday morning. Gurley said he is worried about the deal’s structure.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images



Gurley expressed concern about the increasing circularity of deals between AI companies and the firms building their massive physical infrastructure.

“This is a little bit odd that we got started this way from the very beginning,” he said, referring to early transactions between Microsoft and OpenAI that involved cloud credits flowing back into Microsoft’s Azure business.

There’s a fresh example of intertwined AI and infrastructure agreements on Tuesday morning: Meta and Advanced Micro Devices announced a deal in which Meta would buy six gigawatts of computing power from the chipmaker.

The arrangement could also result in Meta owning up to 10% of AMD’s stock.

Gurley said he once described similar AI and infrastructure deal structures to ChatGPT without naming the companies involved.

“It spit out words like Enron and WorldCom,” he said. “All I did was describe the structure of the deals. I didn’t say which companies they were.”

Gurley said he doesn’t think regulators will step in to fix the circularity issue.

“When it comes undone — and it will come undone one day for reasons we can talk about — I think people are going to point these things and say they shouldn’t have existed,” he said.

AI as ‘jet fuel’

For workers worried about AI’s impact on their jobs, Gurley was far more optimistic.

He called AI “jet fuel” for people passionate about their work (something he has also said on X), and argued that the tools can dramatically accelerate skills and productivity.

“You can learn faster than you could have ever learned at any point in history right now,” he said. “You can fire this thing up and get it on your side.”

Even in an era of sweeping technological disruption, Gurley said he wouldn’t choose a different path if he had to start all over again.

“If we lived in a society where all jobs paid the same, I would have still done venture capital,” he said. “I just had so much fun being a part of it.”

Gurley didn’t respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.




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Medium says employees can join Friday’s strike against ICE

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Online publisher Medium has told its employees that they are free to take Friday off to participate in a nationwide immigration strike.

Medium’s CEO, Tony Stubblebine, said in a series of messages in the company’s general Slack channel that he had “started the week in my own head and heart” over the situation in Minneapolis. Protests have broken out in the state after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“But also it gives me hope to see people across the country stand up and push back,” he said in the messages, which he cross-posted on Threads on Thursday. He added that he wanted to support his employees’ participation in the Friday strike.

Stubblebine did not mandate his staff to attend the strike or take time off from work, saying they were free to take as much time off on Friday as they wished. Medium is a publishing company based in San Francisco.

“Sometimes it feels awkward to navigate being both on-mission and on-money,” he wrote, but added, “our business thrives when the country thrives.”

Stubblebine said that, in addition to letting his employees attend the strike, Medium would publish strike-related content in its newsletter on Friday, such as “Survival Guide To Police Encounters During Protests in Staff Picks.”

Activists, unions, and some celebrities have called for a nationwide strike on Friday to protest the shootings. They are encouraging Americans to have a blackout day on January 30, with no work, no school, and no shopping.

The strike calls for the removal of ICE officers from cities nationwide. Celebrities like Pedro Pascal, Hannah Einbinder, Ariana Grande, and Jamie Lee Curtis have shared information about the strike on their social media accounts.

Other executives have also spoken out against ICE. A group of more than 60 executives of Minnesota-based companies, including Target, Cargill, and General Mills, called for peace and de-escalation in an open letter on Sunday.




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