U.S. B-2 Bomber and Navy Carrier Fighters Execute Strategic Long-Range Maritime Strike Drill
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A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit from the 509th Bomb Wing joined Navy Carrier Air Wing Eleven fighters on February 24, 2026, for a long-range maritime strike exercise off California. The drill highlights how stealth bombers and carrier aviation are integrating to counter anti-access threats and reinforce U.S. power projection in a contested Pacific environment.
On February 24, 2026, the U.S. Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing reported that a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber had joined Navy fighters from Carrier Air Wing Eleven for an integrated maritime strike exercise off the coast of California, demonstrating how U.S. strategic bombers and carrier aviation combine in a realistic blue-water scenario amid rising great-power competition and anti-access threats. Featuring the B-2’s low-observable profile alongside F-35C and F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft equipped with long-range AIM-174B missiles, the sortie showcased a networked “kill web” capable of engaging targets hundreds of miles at sea. The event, disclosed through Whiteman Air Force Base’s official account on X, underscored the enduring importance of joint air-maritime integration for U.S. power projection and deterrence.
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A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit teamed with Navy F-35C and F/A-18E fighters off California to rehearse a long-range, networked maritime strike designed to counter emerging anti-access threats (Picture Source: U.S. Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing)
The core of this new training evolution is the B-2 Spirit, the only operational strategic stealth bomber in the world capable of penetrating advanced integrated air defense systems to deliver both conventional and nuclear ordnance. With its flying-wing configuration, radar-absorbent structure and internal weapons bays, the B-2 can approach maritime or land targets with minimal radar cross-section, acting as a survivable deep-strike node in the joint kill chain. Operating from the continental United States, the aircraft can generate global-reach sorties through aerial refueling, striking high-value maritime targets, shore-based anti-ship systems and command-and-control nodes that underpin any adversary’s maritime denial strategy.
During the exercise, the B-2 flew in formation with a carrier-borne F-35C Lightning II and F/A-18E Super Hornets, creating a triad of complementary capabilities. The F-35C, designed specifically for carrier operations, combines larger wings and reinforced landing gear with low-observable shaping, an advanced AN/APG-81 AESA radar, Distributed Aperture System and high-end electronic warfare suite. In a maritime strike context, the F-35C serves as a forward sensor and battle manager, conducting long-range ISR, target identification and threat geolocation while fusing data from onboard and offboard sensors. Acting as an airborne gateway, it can push a consolidated picture via secure datalinks to the B-2, to the Super Hornets and back to the carrier strike group, tightening the sensor-to-shooter loop over the ocean battlespace.
Behind the F-35C in the Whiteman imagery are two single-seat F/A-18E Super Hornets, the workhorse multirole fighters of the U.S. carrier air wing. These aircraft provide high-endurance combat air patrols, offensive counter-air and maritime strike capabilities, with the APG-79 AESA radar, advanced defensive suites and the ability to employ a broad set of precision weapons. In the photos, the Super Hornets from VFA-25 “Fist of the Fleet” and VFA-211 “Fighting Checkmates” are seen carrying inert AIM-174B rounds, underlining how the Navy is validating carriage and employment profiles for this outsized long-range missile alongside more traditional air-to-air loads.
The AIM-174B, nicknamed “Gunslinger,” represents a major expansion of the U.S. Navy’s beyond-visual-range engagement envelope. Derived from the SM-6 family as an air-launched configuration, the missile provides very long-range air-to-air capability, with a publicly acknowledged range of at least 130 nautical miles and widely assessed potential to reach several hundred miles when launched at altitude and speed from a Super Hornet. Using inertial guidance with active and semi-active radar homing in the terminal phase, the AIM-174B allows carrier air wings to hold at risk high-value airborne assets such as enemy tankers, ISR platforms and long-range bombers before they can launch stand-off weapons. In a maritime strike scenario, that reach contributes directly to sea control and to the defense of the carrier strike group against peer air threats.
The presence of inert AIM-174Bs in this integrated maritime strike exercise highlights how the U.S. is knitting together new weapons and legacy platforms into a coherent long-range engagement strategy. Super Hornets armed with AIM-174Bs can push far ahead of the carrier to conduct offensive counter-air and barrier CAP, guided by targeting data from F-35Cs operating in stealthy forward positions. Simultaneously, a B-2 can prosecute key maritime nodes or land-based anti-ship systems, coordinated via resilient datalinks and mission planning cells at the carrier and at Whiteman. This combination of stealthy surveillance, deep-strike and extended-range air-to-air fires creates a multi-layered kill web that is difficult for any adversary to disrupt, even in a contested electromagnetic environment.
At the organizational level, the exercise reflects the mission of Air Force Global Strike Command and the 509th Bomb Wing to provide unique deterrence and long-range strike options for national decision-makers. From its B-2 operations, the 509th has a long history of pioneering long-duration global sorties and integrating with joint and allied forces, projecting U.S. airpower directly from the American homeland to distant theaters. By pairing that expertise with the U.S. Navy’s mature carrier strike doctrine, Carrier Air Wing Eleven validates tactics, techniques and procedures that will be directly applicable in high-end contingencies, particularly in the Indo-Pacific where maritime geography and long distances require such integrated air-maritime solutions.
The imagery featuring a VFA-86 F-35C flying in close formation with Super Hornets from VFA-25 and VFA-211, under USAF escort, also sends a strategic message about interoperability and training culture across services. It shows U.S. naval aviation squadrons executing complex composite air operations alongside a strategic bomber wing, practicing deconfliction of flight profiles, tanker sequencing, emissions control and joint targeting processes over the maritime domain. These are precisely the skill sets required to coordinate distributed maritime operations, massing effects without physically massing platforms, and complicating an adversary’s targeting calculus against U.S. forces.
For the United States, the Whiteman–CVW-11 integration event is more than a photo opportunity; it is a clear demonstration that the United States Air Force and United States Navy are deliberately refining a joint air-maritime strike architecture built around stealth, long-range weapons and resilient C2. As potential adversaries field anti-ship ballistic missiles, long-range air-to-air weapons and dense coastal defenses, the ability of U.S. forces to combine a B-2’s deep-penetration strike profile, an F-35C’s sensor fusion and a Super Hornet’s AIM-174B reach will be decisive in keeping the initiative. This exercise off California’s coast underscores that the United States is actively preparing for high-end conflict at sea, preserving credible deterrence and assuring allies that American carrier and bomber forces remain ready to fight together, from the first tactical engagement to the strategic level of war.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit from the 509th Bomb Wing joined Navy Carrier Air Wing Eleven fighters on February 24, 2026, for a long-range maritime strike exercise off California. The drill highlights how stealth bombers and carrier aviation are integrating to counter anti-access threats and reinforce U.S. power projection in a contested Pacific environment.
On February 24, 2026, the U.S. Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing reported that a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber had joined Navy fighters from Carrier Air Wing Eleven for an integrated maritime strike exercise off the coast of California, demonstrating how U.S. strategic bombers and carrier aviation combine in a realistic blue-water scenario amid rising great-power competition and anti-access threats. Featuring the B-2’s low-observable profile alongside F-35C and F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft equipped with long-range AIM-174B missiles, the sortie showcased a networked “kill web” capable of engaging targets hundreds of miles at sea. The event, disclosed through Whiteman Air Force Base’s official account on X, underscored the enduring importance of joint air-maritime integration for U.S. power projection and deterrence.
A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit teamed with Navy F-35C and F/A-18E fighters off California to rehearse a long-range, networked maritime strike designed to counter emerging anti-access threats (Picture Source: U.S. Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing)
The core of this new training evolution is the B-2 Spirit, the only operational strategic stealth bomber in the world capable of penetrating advanced integrated air defense systems to deliver both conventional and nuclear ordnance. With its flying-wing configuration, radar-absorbent structure and internal weapons bays, the B-2 can approach maritime or land targets with minimal radar cross-section, acting as a survivable deep-strike node in the joint kill chain. Operating from the continental United States, the aircraft can generate global-reach sorties through aerial refueling, striking high-value maritime targets, shore-based anti-ship systems and command-and-control nodes that underpin any adversary’s maritime denial strategy.
During the exercise, the B-2 flew in formation with a carrier-borne F-35C Lightning II and F/A-18E Super Hornets, creating a triad of complementary capabilities. The F-35C, designed specifically for carrier operations, combines larger wings and reinforced landing gear with low-observable shaping, an advanced AN/APG-81 AESA radar, Distributed Aperture System and high-end electronic warfare suite. In a maritime strike context, the F-35C serves as a forward sensor and battle manager, conducting long-range ISR, target identification and threat geolocation while fusing data from onboard and offboard sensors. Acting as an airborne gateway, it can push a consolidated picture via secure datalinks to the B-2, to the Super Hornets and back to the carrier strike group, tightening the sensor-to-shooter loop over the ocean battlespace.
Behind the F-35C in the Whiteman imagery are two single-seat F/A-18E Super Hornets, the workhorse multirole fighters of the U.S. carrier air wing. These aircraft provide high-endurance combat air patrols, offensive counter-air and maritime strike capabilities, with the APG-79 AESA radar, advanced defensive suites and the ability to employ a broad set of precision weapons. In the photos, the Super Hornets from VFA-25 “Fist of the Fleet” and VFA-211 “Fighting Checkmates” are seen carrying inert AIM-174B rounds, underlining how the Navy is validating carriage and employment profiles for this outsized long-range missile alongside more traditional air-to-air loads.
The AIM-174B, nicknamed “Gunslinger,” represents a major expansion of the U.S. Navy’s beyond-visual-range engagement envelope. Derived from the SM-6 family as an air-launched configuration, the missile provides very long-range air-to-air capability, with a publicly acknowledged range of at least 130 nautical miles and widely assessed potential to reach several hundred miles when launched at altitude and speed from a Super Hornet. Using inertial guidance with active and semi-active radar homing in the terminal phase, the AIM-174B allows carrier air wings to hold at risk high-value airborne assets such as enemy tankers, ISR platforms and long-range bombers before they can launch stand-off weapons. In a maritime strike scenario, that reach contributes directly to sea control and to the defense of the carrier strike group against peer air threats.
The presence of inert AIM-174Bs in this integrated maritime strike exercise highlights how the U.S. is knitting together new weapons and legacy platforms into a coherent long-range engagement strategy. Super Hornets armed with AIM-174Bs can push far ahead of the carrier to conduct offensive counter-air and barrier CAP, guided by targeting data from F-35Cs operating in stealthy forward positions. Simultaneously, a B-2 can prosecute key maritime nodes or land-based anti-ship systems, coordinated via resilient datalinks and mission planning cells at the carrier and at Whiteman. This combination of stealthy surveillance, deep-strike and extended-range air-to-air fires creates a multi-layered kill web that is difficult for any adversary to disrupt, even in a contested electromagnetic environment.
At the organizational level, the exercise reflects the mission of Air Force Global Strike Command and the 509th Bomb Wing to provide unique deterrence and long-range strike options for national decision-makers. From its B-2 operations, the 509th has a long history of pioneering long-duration global sorties and integrating with joint and allied forces, projecting U.S. airpower directly from the American homeland to distant theaters. By pairing that expertise with the U.S. Navy’s mature carrier strike doctrine, Carrier Air Wing Eleven validates tactics, techniques and procedures that will be directly applicable in high-end contingencies, particularly in the Indo-Pacific where maritime geography and long distances require such integrated air-maritime solutions.
The imagery featuring a VFA-86 F-35C flying in close formation with Super Hornets from VFA-25 and VFA-211, under USAF escort, also sends a strategic message about interoperability and training culture across services. It shows U.S. naval aviation squadrons executing complex composite air operations alongside a strategic bomber wing, practicing deconfliction of flight profiles, tanker sequencing, emissions control and joint targeting processes over the maritime domain. These are precisely the skill sets required to coordinate distributed maritime operations, massing effects without physically massing platforms, and complicating an adversary’s targeting calculus against U.S. forces.
For the United States, the Whiteman–CVW-11 integration event is more than a photo opportunity; it is a clear demonstration that the United States Air Force and United States Navy are deliberately refining a joint air-maritime strike architecture built around stealth, long-range weapons and resilient C2. As potential adversaries field anti-ship ballistic missiles, long-range air-to-air weapons and dense coastal defenses, the ability of U.S. forces to combine a B-2’s deep-penetration strike profile, an F-35C’s sensor fusion and a Super Hornet’s AIM-174B reach will be decisive in keeping the initiative. This exercise off California’s coast underscores that the United States is actively preparing for high-end conflict at sea, preserving credible deterrence and assuring allies that American carrier and bomber forces remain ready to fight together, from the first tactical engagement to the strategic level of war.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
