After a brief summer break, I am back and Matt Van Hook is back on the podcast to discuss Operation Midnight Hammer, the US-lead air raid to strike Iranian nuclear facilities that occurred earlier this summer.
Dr. Van Hook is a retired Air Force pilot and, pertinent to this conversation, served as a air tanker pilot. The KC-135 was a pivotal, but unsung hero in Operation Midnight Hammer as it was these flying gas stations that provided American B-2 Stealth Bombers the ability to fly from the middle of the United States to Iran to carry out their mission.
As Matt and I discuss, this mission has deep, deep roots in American-Iran relations, which played a role in producing America’s fairly recent doctrine of joint force warfighting. This doctrine proved critical in developing the equipment, planning, and training that went into making Operation Midnight Hammer the success that it was.
While we do talk about the political and media narratives around the mission and its outcome, this is a bigger discussion on the complexity of modern warfighting and military operations. As such, it provides an introduction to what will be a running theme in future podcast episodes as I explore the future of war and emerging military tech from a variety of angles.
Digging deeper
Breaking Defense, “Operation Midnight Hammer: How the US conducted surprise strikes on Iran”
The War Zone, “B-2 Strikes on Iran: What We Know About Operation Midnight Hammer”
From the podcast archives: America and Ayatollahs - US-Iran relations
Matt’s prior appearances on the podcast:
Biola University Political Science Department
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