They can evade radar and penetrate enemy airspace—but America’s most advanced aircraft can’t dodge a missile on the runway.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon deployed six B-2 stealth bombers to Diego Garcia, a remote U.S. airbase in the Indian Ocean. Within hours, satellite images of the bombers circulated widely on social media, showing them fully exposed on the tarmac—without hangars or shelters to protect them. While the B-2 is nearly impossible to detect or destroy in flight, it is a sitting duck on the ground.

Though Diego Garcia sits far outside the immediate threat environment, the bombers’ lack of protection is a serious risk. Amid ongoing U.S. strikes against Iran-backed Houthi forces in the Red Sea, reporting suggests Iran considered a preemptive strike on the base. The logic is clear: the U.S. Air Force operates just 19 active B-2 bombers. Destroying the six parked at Diego Garcia would cripple the fleet—and with it, the air leg of America’s nuclear triad.

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