Those planes are designed to take heavy hits and keep on flying. But none of this would have happened if some European countries would have allowed us to use their bases for refueling.
@Barefooter25 So have you thought about your refueling in Europe idea? From Athens to Tehran is about 1500 miles. The range of an F 35 is around 750 miles. So you are still going to need refuelers in the air near Iran in order to have F 35s attack Tehran. They can't even fly an F35 from Jerusalem to Tehran without refuelling and the F 35 is the best aircraft for the job. The US doesn't have enough B 2s and its B 52s would make great targets for the Iranians practice on. No matter how you slice it because Iran is such a large country you need refuelers close by to top up the tanks on the way home.
Those tanker formations and join ups are complicated and risky operations. Like tailgating an 18 wheeler in your car then changing lanes. While a horrible loss of life, thankfully one of the crews survived.
