What is Operation Midnight Hammer? US reveals details of 'deliberate, precise' strike on Iran

The operation that US launched on Iran after President Donald Trump ditched his two-week deadline was named Operation Midnight Hammer, the Pentagon announced Sunday revealing the details of the deliberate and precision attack against three Iranian nuclear facilities. It was a complex and high-risk mission carried out with exceptional skill and discipline by the joint force. The operation was designed to severely degrade Iran's nuclear weapon infrastructure; it was planned and executed across multiple domains and theatres with coordination that reflects US ability to project power globally, the Pentagon said at a briefing.

Operation Midnight Hammer was a highly classified mission with very few people in Washington with knowledge about it -- its timing or nature, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said.

Details of 'Operation Midnight Hammer'

1. At midnight Friday into Saturday morning, a large B-2 strike package comprising bombers launched from the continental United States as part of a plan to maintain the tactical surprise of the package, the Pentagon said.
2. Part of the package proceeded to the West and proceeded to the Pacific as decoy. This decoy operation was only known to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders in Washington.
3. The main strike package comprised seven B-2 bombers, each with two crew members. This package proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communication.
4. Through the 18-hour flight into the target area, the aircraft (main package) completed multiple in-flight refuelings.
5. Once over the land, the B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft in a complex, tightly timed manoeuvre, requiring exact synchronisation across multiple platforms in a narrow piece of airspace -- all done with minimal communication. The Pentagon said that this type of integration is what US Joint Force is known for in the world.
6. At 5pm (EST), just before the strike package entered Iran, a US submarine in the Central Command area of responsibility launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets at Isfahan.
7. When the strike package entered the Iranian airspace, the US employed several deception tactics, including decoys as the 4th- and 5th-Generation aircraft pushed out in front of the strike package in high altitude and high speed, sweeping in front of the package.
8. Then the strike package approached Fordow and Natanz, the US protection package employed high-speed suppression weapons to ensure safe passage of the strike package with fighter assets employing pre-emptive suppressing fires against any potential Iranian surface-to-air threats. Pentagon said it is not aware of any shots fired at the US strike package on the way in.
9. At 6.40 pm (EST), the lead B-2 bombers dropped two GBU-57 on the first of several aimpoints at Fordow.
10. All three Iranian infrastructure targets were struck between 6.40 PM and 7.05 PM (EST). The Tomahawk missiles were the last to strike at Isfahan, as the Pentagon described them as the surprise element of the attack. After the weapon release, the Midnight Hammer Strike package exited Iranian airspace and began returning home. Pentagon said it was not aware of any shots fired at them during the exit.