By Brad Lendon, CNN
(CNN) — Before the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Washington assembled its largest force and some of its most powerful weaponry in the Middle East in decades.
President Donald Trump had warned the US was “locked and loaded” – and Saturday’s strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader gave that force a destructive purpose.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Sunday released a list of the US weaponry that has been used so far in the war with Iran.
Here’s a look at the assets used so far in what the Pentagon calls “Operation Epic Fury”:
B-2 stealth bombers: The bat-winged bombers, priced at more than a billion dollars each, are the most potent platform in the US Air Force. Powered by four jet engines, the B-2 can carry conventional or nuclear weapons, with intercontinental range and aerial refueling.
Piloted by a crew of two, the B-2s usually fly from their home at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, as they did last year when they struck Iranian nuclear complexes in a 34-hour round-trip mission.
That mission last June was undertaken by seven of the 19 B-2s in the fleet, with others used for a feint trip to Hawaii. They used the biggest of the US conventional bombs – the 30,000-pound massive ordnance penetrator – to attack three Iranian nuclear sites.
This time they used 2,000-pound bombs to hit Iranian ballistic missile installations, CENTCOM said.
LUCAS one-way drones: Operation Epic Fury marks the first use of the drones in combat for the US, according to CENTCOM.
The drone unit – Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS) – was activated in the Middle East late last year, a CENTCOM statement said.
“TFSS is designed to quickly deliver low cost and effective drone capabilities into the hands of warfighters,” the statement said.
The Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) is essentially a knock off of the Iranian-designed Shahed 136 drones that Russia has used in large numbers in its war on Ukraine.
“These low-cost drones, modeled after Iran’s Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution,” CENTCOM said in a social media post.
US warships: CENTCOM says US aircraft carriers and guided-missile destroyers have seen action in the war.
Two US aircraft carriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Gerald R. Ford were in the Middle East when the strikes on Iran began. The Lincoln was in the Arabian Sea and the Ford in the Mediterranean off Israel.
CENTCOM has released video of F/A-18 and F-35 fighters taking off and landing on the Lincoln. The Ford doesn’t carry the F-35.
Iran has claimed it hit the Lincoln with ballistic missiles, something CENTCOM called a “LIE” in a social media post.
US video also shows guided-missile destroyers firing Tomahawk missiles. US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, a number of which are in the region, can carry as many as 96 Tomahawks.
The destroyers, with their Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, can also be used to protect the carriers they often sail with and assets ashore.
Patriot and THAAD missile defense systems: Patriot and THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) batteries are used to combat incoming Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
The number of Patriot and THAAD interceptors fired so far is unknown.
But Iran has sent thousands of drones and missiles at targets around the Middle East, and analysts have expressed concern that stocks of the interceptors, taxed by last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, and by units supplied to Ukraine to defend against Russian attacks, could run low if Iran keeps up its retaliatory strikes over an extended time.
Fighter jets: CENTCOM says a range of fighter jets have seen action in the war’s first days. Those include F