President Donald Trump greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin at a U.S. air base in Alaska on Friday with a flyover that included the identical kind of bomber and fighter jets used to strike Iran’s nuclear websites final June.
The 2 leaders walked alongside a crimson carpet rolled out at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson with F-22 fighter jets on both facet because the 4 F-35s and a B-2 Spirit bomber soared overhead.
Based on two officers, two B-2 bombers had been flown into the bottom forward of Friday’s summit; the F-35 jets arrived from close by Eielson Air Drive Base in Alaska. The F-22 planes had been based mostly out of Elmendorf.
It was not instantly clear whether or not Trump personally ordered the bombers and the flyover to the Air Drive base as a type of present of power forward of his discussions with Russia, which is also a nuclear energy.
The B-2 is taken into account a logo of U.S. energy, because the bombers can fly all over the world nonstop and may carry each standard and nuclear munitions. The stealth B-2 bombers are the identical sort utilized by the U.S. throughout June’s Operation Midnight Hammer, wherein seven of the plane flew 36 hours straight from Whiteman Air Drive Base in Missouri to Iran the place they dropped greater than a dozen bunker-buster bombs.
A B-2 bomber and 4 F-35 fighter jets fly overhead as US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP through Getty Photos
The Pentagon didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In latest weeks, Trump has repeatedly praised the ability of the B-2 plane and the ability of its pilots.
Trump has insisted the websites had been “obliterated.” U.S. navy officers say a harm evaluation remains to be below means. On Aug. 6, he introduced his administration ordered “new and enhanced” B-2 plane.
“It is an incredible machine,” he advised reporters, holding up a small mannequin of the bomber.
