The World’s Longest Airstrikes
A map displays the flight range of Operation Black Buck.
The world’s longest direct commercial flight is from New York’s JFK to Singapore’s Changi Airport. It stretches over 15,000km (9500 miles) and takes nearly 19 hours to complete. Flying nonstop at time of writing this article will cost about £1150 (USD $1450) just for the one-way ticket.
The world’s longest airstrikes, however, are in a different league entirely. In fact, they’re not even the same metaphorical ball game.
Operation Black Buck, 1982
One of the longest bombing runs recorded took place during the Falklands War. The British RAF bomber took off from Ascension Island in the central Atlantic Ocean, refueling mid-flight with tanker jets flying alongside, before dropping 21 450kg bombs on Argentinian targets on the Port Stanley Airfield. The total round-trip flight time was just short of 16 hours, and although seven Black Buck missions were planned, only five of them were successfully performed.
2nd of February strikes, 2024
On February 2nd-5th 2024, two manned B-1 bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, USA, to launch 125 missiles at 85 strategic targets run by Iranian-backed militants in Syria. To get there in a single continuous flight, the bombers received aerial refueling twice, once over the UK and again over Cyprus, before launching the strikes for approximately 30 minutes, turning around, and doing the flight all over again.
Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001
Enduring Freedom’s refueling points are marked with red dots, with its return flight in yellow
“It took us less than 30 days to plan and launch a fully fledged air campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda”, according to Lt. Gen David Deptula. In the first few days of the campaign, the US did not have the infrastructure already in the Middle East to strike Afghanistan - but they didn’t need it. While troops and other materials reached the region, B-2 bombers took off from Missouri in the central USA, flying in a single mission to Afghanistan by refuelling over California, Hawaii, Guam, Malaysia, and the Maldives before bombing the Taliban and landing in Diego Garcia, a British RAF base in the Indian Ocean. The total flight time was 44 hours.
TAI Score: Degree 3. Although these airstrikes do not immensely shape the nature of conflicts, and are highly difficult to successfully achieve, this weakness may actually be their greatest threat as countries increasingly turn to super- and hyper-sonic missiles to achieve objectives - massively changing combat capabilities worldwide.
