Last month, the United States Air Force deployed nearly a third of its Northrop B-2 Spirit bomber fleet to the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, likely as a show of force. The long-range bombers would be able to strike positions controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen and Iran, should Tehran fail to reach a nuclear deal with Washington. As of this week, the B-2s are still believed to be positioned on British overseas territory. 

However, whether or not any mission has been accomplished is still up in the air.

Now, deploying the B-2s to Diego Garcia has raised more questions than answers.

The same could be true of Russia’s deployment of Tupolev Tu-95 long-range strategic bombers to the remote Belaya Air Base in Siberia. Open-source intelligence analyst MT Anderson first noted that ten Tu-95s had been sent to the remote base, and he shared satellite images of the bombers in a post on X.

Belaya Air Base, located in the Usolsky District of the Irkutsk Oblast, is more than 4,000........

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