Defense Agency Contributed Toward Operation Midnight Hammer Success

Published July 10, 2025
By David Vergun

On June 22, 2025, about 125 U.S. military aircraft, including seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers carrying 14 30,000-pound GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator bombs and a guided-missile submarine firing Tomahawk missiles, participated in Operation Midnight Hammer, which significantly damaged Iran's three nuclear sites.

An aircraft is shown inside a hanger under green light.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency contributed to the yearslong development of the GBU-57, the world's largest conventional bunker-busting munition, and worked collaboratively to test and validate its effectiveness before transitioning the bombs to the Air Force, a senior defense official said during a press briefing today.

The agency utilized modeling and simulation to determine the impact of the GBU-57 on hardened and deeply buried targets to ensure a successful outcome for Operation Midnight Hammer.

The full battle damage assessment is still being compiled by the intelligence community and may take some time, the official said.

"We're working to stay ahead of the enemy, and we work to enable our warfighters to be ready, modern and prepared to defeat those who may threaten our homeland, partners or allies with weapons of mass destruction," the official said, speaking of DTRA's broader mission.

A B-2 bomber aircraft lifts off from a dark runway, trailing two fire-like contrails with lights in the background.

Established in 1942, DTRA has undergone various name changes over the years. Still, the mission has largely remained the same — provide solutions to enable the Defense Department to deter strategic attacks on the U.S. and its allies, as well as prevent, reduce and counter WMDs and emerging threats.

WMDs include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive materials used in any domain, the official noted, adding that the agency works closely with the intelligence community to understand the intentions of U.S. adversaries regarding weapons of mass destruction.

"We use our deep technical expertise to look for vulnerabilities within those adversary activities, and then we work to exploit those vulnerabilities to change what the adversary is doing, be it to disrupt their development of a weapon of mass destruction, to defeat a weapon of mass destruction device or to destroy their ability to use weapons of mass destruction," the official said.