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(NewsNation) — Observers accidental it was a peculiarly telling infinitesimal Friday successful Alaska: As President Trump greeted Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a B-2 stealth bomber soared overhead, accompanied by F-22 Raptor fighters.
Both leaders looked up concisely to instrumentality successful the show earlier gathering privately to sermon imaginable bid successful Ukraine.
Although Trump has publically shown deference to Putin successful caller days successful hopes of mounting the signifier for a deal, analysts accidental the show of airborne hardware astatine Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was nary accident.
B-2s delivered airstrikes connected Iran
America’s B-2s were dominantly showcased successful precocious June, erstwhile 7 of the radar-evading bombers flew 36 hours consecutive to present “bunker-buster” bombs connected three Iranian atomic sites, successful enactment of U.S. state Israel. Although determination was immoderate debate astir however overmuch harm the planes yet inflicted, determination was nary question the B-2s lived up to their stealth moniker.
F-22s and a B-2 bomber soar supra Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson arsenic Trump and Putin shook hands connected the tarmac.“That B-2 flyover — I bash not deliberation that we tin marque capable of that moment,” Leland Vittert, big of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” said during a roundtable treatment Friday astir the Trump-Putin summit.
Vittert said the show whitethorn explicate Putin’s unusually “obsequious,” oregon fawning, behaviour astatine the summit.
Military hardware a 'flex' successful Alaska
Chris Stirewalt, anchor of “The Hill Sunday,” said the planes were so a portion of the ocular country the Trump medication was trying to evoke.
“All of the staging present was a flex,” helium told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas. “In the beginning, he’s displaying Putin similar a trophy: ‘I caught him. He came. He’s connected my turf. Look astatine him, he’s smaller than me.’”
But Stirewalt said the opening of the acme contrasted notably with the conclusion, a associated quality league betwixt Trump and Putin, wherever the U.S. president appeared grim and low-energy compared to Putin.
The U.S. subject has 19 of the B-2 stealth bombers, chiefly based astatine Whiteman Air Force Base successful Missouri. It takes 2 pilots to run the sleek aircraft. Each costs much than $2 billion.
