The stealth bomber demonstrated a long-range precision maritime strike within the Norwegian Sea utilizing the QUICKSINK weapon.
A U.S. Air Pressure B-2 Spirit stealth bomber took half within the third demonstration of the QUICKSINK functionality, releasing the JDAMs (Joint Direct Assault Munition) modified for maritime strike on a mock goal within the Norwegian Sea. The mission, which was carried out on Sep. 3, 2025, noticed the bomber accompanied by 4 Royal Norwegian Air Pressure (RNoAF) F-35As and a P-8A Poseidon.
The mission was introduced by each companies per week later, on Sep. 9, 2025. Whereas within the Excessive North, the plane had been refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker from the one hundredth Aerial Refueling Wing (ARW) based mostly at RAF Mildenhall.
Nevertheless, the flight of the B-2 close to Norway was already famous. In truth, on Sep. 3, a B-2 with the callsign “CULT71” was heard speaking with air visitors management on its method to Norway.
B-2 #CULT71 eastbound over the Atlantic out of Whiteman AFB, checking in with Shanwick Radio HF 10021. pic.twitter.com/TVJ2mUGCjo
— EISNspotter 🇮🇪 (@EISNspotter) September 3, 2025
The pictures present that preparations went ahead for days, with crews from the 509th Munitions Squadron, 393rd and 509th Bomber Era Squadron and the 72nd Take a look at and Analysis Squadron assembling and loading the weapons on Aug. 26 and Aug. 28 at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. No less than two GBU-31s and twelve GBU-38s had been seen within the pictures on weapon trailers, able to be loaded on the B-2.
🇺🇸 2,000-pound class GBU-31 JDAMs (QUICKSINK variant) are ready, inspected and loaded onto a B-2A Spirit stealth bomber at Whiteman Air Pressure Base, Missouri, Aug. 28, 2025.
(📸/U.S. Air Pressure pictures by Workers Sgt. Joshua Hastings) pic.twitter.com/rS2s2zaFNN
— Man Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) September 9, 2025
The weapons construct operations had been a “element of the AFRL QUICKSINK Joint Functionality Expertise Demonstration,” the captions mentioned. It’s unclear what number of weapons had been employed within the take a look at.
The primary QUICKSINK demonstration from a B-2 happened within the 2024 version of the RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) train with a 2,000 pound GBU-31/B JDAM. Then, in April 2025, the AFRL (Air Pressure Analysis Laboratory) carried out a take a look at of a “new, extra versatile variant of the QUICKSINK maritime weapon,” based mostly on a 500 pound GBU-38 JDAM, employed by a B-2 at Eglin AFB’s Gulf Take a look at Vary.
QUICKSINK and B-2
The AFRL confirmed in 2022 that it developed a devoted seeker for the QUICKSINK position. Apparently, the 2 GBU-31 JDAMs are coloured otherwise – one with a pink physique, and the opposite with yellow and black bands within the entrance and the aft part.
The explanation for the completely different coloration is unknown, nonetheless the pink one was proven in pictures by the RNoAF shortly after being launched by the B-2. Contemplating that the pictures seem to indicate two completely different explosions, it’s doable the 2 GBU-31s had been the one ones to be dropped on course.
The captions mentioned the JDAMs had been used for the QUICKSINK Joint Functionality Expertise Demonstration, described as “a brand new low-cost, air-delivered functionality for defeating maritime threats.” The targets had been positioned within the waters of the Norwegian Sea, off Andøya in Nordland.
A B-2 can carry a whopping 80 500 pound-class GBU-38s or 16 2,000 pound-class GBU-31s in a single sortie. Combined hundreds are additionally doable, contemplating each GBU-31s and GBU-38 had been proven being ready.
The B-2 used for the take a look at is assigned to the 72nd TES, below the 53rd Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida. The 53rd Wing’s press launch mentioned the take a look at “additionally superior the event of each giant and small variants of the precision strike system below analysis, increasing operational choices for commanders in maritime-focused operations.”
The assertion seems to discuss with the modifications to each the GBU-31’s and GBU-38’s JDAM package and seeker for the QUICKSINK mission. Nevertheless, the one photograph obtainable reveals the GBU-31 being launched, whereas no pictures of the GBU-38 being employed can be found.
The train
The 53rd Wing mentioned it built-in the U.S. B-2 Spirit right into a “long-range strike state of affairs demonstrating seamless cooperation and interoperability to defeat a floor vessel in a sensible setting.” The Luftforsvaret confirmed the participation of its 4 F-35As and the only P-8A within the “very profitable” take a look at.
“To perform the mission, capacities from, amongst others, the Norwegian Navy and Andøya Area had been additionally used,” added the assertion.
The 53rd Wing described the drill as a take a look at of next-generation precision maritime capabilities. The unit additionally mentioned that, in partnership with Royal Norwegian Air Pressure F-35s and personnel, the take a look at demonstrated “seamless cooperation and interoperability to defeat a floor vessel in a sensible setting.”
“This take a look at is a transparent instance of how we work with trusted allies to carry new capabilities into play sooner and smarter,” 53rd Wing commander Col. Scott Gunn mentioned.
The participation of the Norwegians to the take a look at, beside permitting the U.S. “vital infrastructure and airspace,” additionally helped refining “superior ways, strategies, and procedures for long-range sensor-to-shooter operations,” with widespread airframes just like the F-35A and the P-8A, in keeping with the USAF.
The Lightning II would offer aerial digital surveillance and an armed escort within the strike package deal, whereas the P-8A scans, locates, tracks sea targets and relays the info to the B-2. That is in step with the train integrating beyond-line-of-sight communications and multi-domain focusing on, as talked about by the 53rd Wing.
“We’re constructing readiness on either side of the Atlantic and [making] maritime strike extra distributed, survivable, and built-in,” mentioned 72nd TES commander Lt Col. Stephen Bressett.
Future
Questions nonetheless stay on the general strategic efficacy and utility of utilizing B-2 Spirits for placing ships with guided bombs. For one, the JDAM bombs, with ranges anticipated to be between 45 and 55 miles, nowhere provide the huge standoff distances of devoted anti-ship missiles just like the AGM-88 Harpoon or the AGM-158C LRASM.
The benefit is that the B-2 Spirit’s stealth permits it to get nearer to the goal with a really low probability of detection. The JDAM’s lack of an energetic seeker and low infrared signature would additionally depart little hint for surface-to-air radar and missile sensors to lock on.
Lastly, naval powers like Russia or China could be working with a full flotilla, their very own naval air arm, and backed by land-fired, coastal protection standoff ship-killing missiles. B-2 bombers however could be outsized for such a tactical strike, and extra suited to hitting bigger, strategic targets on land with typical and non-conventional weapons.
Quicksink bombs might be best for hitting smaller civilian-based vessels that the PLA Navy is anticipated to press into service, as had been seen with Z-10 assault helicopters working from a semi-submersible service provider vessel final October. These liberate the larger Allied warships, multirole plane, Harpoons and LRASMs for targets that demand higher-end capabilities.
The Chief of the AFRL’s Munitions Directorate, Col. Matthew Caspers, had beforehand provided the doctrinal idea behind B-2 Spirit using the brand new weapon: “QUICKSINK is the results of a Joint collaboration that quickly prototyped an inexpensive idea for holding floor targets in danger.”
