CENTCOM footage shows F/A-18 Super Hornets launching from the USS Harry S. Truman carrying a variety of weapons, including the GBU-53/B StormBreaker and AGM-154 JSOW glide bombs and the AGM-84 SLAM-ER missile.
For the past 10 days, American military forces have conducted a sustained campaign of airstrikes against targets in Yemen suspected to be linked to the Houthi group responsible for attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Aircraft operating from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier have taken on a major role in this operation, with F/A-18 Super Hornets launching day and night with varying payloads.
As noted by The War Zone on Mar. 24, 2025, the airstrikes appear to have included the first known use of the GBU-53/B StormBreaker guided glide bomb in combat. Formerly known as Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II), the StormBreaker is a small 250 lb class weapon with a 105 lb shaped charge warhead. Like the original GBU-39 SDB, the weapon’s compact nature can allow for more to be carried per aircraft compared to other munitions.
The L3Harris BRU-55/A Smart Rack used by the F/A-18 Super Hornet can accommodate two StormBreakers per weapon pylon. The Cobham BRU-61/A Universal Armament Interface, used by the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35 Lightning II (among others), allows for four GBU-39s or GBU-53/Bs to be carried.
MT @MarcusReports: The Small Diameter Bomb II, hanging under this @usairforce F-15E, is ready for production pic.twitter.com/btLEnbaMhn
— RTX (@RTX_News) May 21, 2015
Compared to the GBU-39, which is still widely used by many air forces, the GBU-53/B is designed to improve all-weather and moving target performance by incorporating millimeter wave active radar homing and an infrared seeker. Using wings which deploy once the weapon is dropped, the StormBreaker matches the SDB’s maximum range of 69 miles. This drops to 46 miles for moving targets.
StormBreaker was approved for operational use on the F-15E Strike Eagle by the U.S. Air Force in September 2020. The U.S. Navy declared early operating capability (EOC) for the weapon on its F/A-18 Super Hornets in October 2023. It will eventually be fully integrated for internal and external carriage on all three variants of the F-35 Lightning II.
Alongside StormBreaker, further video footage and images show other weapons from the U.S. Navy’s arsenal in use. The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is clearly seen carried by the Truman’s Super Hornets in multiple images. JSOW is, despite the AGM designation, also a glide bomb, rather than a missile, but carries a much larger payload than the StormBreaker. The stealthy casing is designed to accommodate a number of different warhead types.
Two JSOW variants are known to be in service: the AGM-154A carries the BLU-97/B submunition dispenser which showers the intended target with 145 individual bomblets as the weapon flies overhead, and the AGM-154C is fitted with the two stage BROACH warhead, also used by the Storm Shadow, which can penetrate and destroy targets through concrete or thick armor.
Parts of the AGM-154C’s two stage warhead have been identified amongst the debris of targets struck in Yemen, apparently confirming this variant’s use. It is possible that the AGM-154A has also been used.
Unexploded main (or second) warhead of a AGM-154C JSOW’s BROACH system found after recent US strikes in Hodeidah, Yemen. https://t.co/uNWMgQ2cvF pic.twitter.com/CHTbnIWVDn
— Trevor Ball (@Easybakeovensz) March 17, 2025
The distinctive nose shape of the AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile – Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) can be seen in some night launch images. This cruise missile, based on the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile, carries an 800 lb warhead and is known for its exceptional accuracy. The U.S. Navy states that SLAM-ER has the smallest circular error probable (CEP) of any missile in its inventory.
Other Super Hornets can be seen launching with payloads of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) as well as with large amounts of external fuel tanks. The latter of these, featuring the so called “five wet” configuration, are flying as ‘buddy’ tankers, able to refuel other aircraft from the carrier with the primary purpose of keeping them topped up while waiting for the flight deck to be cleared for their landing.
E-2D Hawkeyes, which provide airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) for the carrier group and nearby allied forces, were also deployed to support the strike packages alongside EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft.
Weapon Details Leaked?
On Mar. 24, 2025 it emerged that editor of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, had inadvertently been made aware of intricate and classified details of ongoing operations against the Houthi rebels after being added to a group chat on messaging app Signal titled ‘Houthi PC small group’. Among the other members of this group chat it appeared to include U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.
In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on the Houthis in a Signal group–and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. https://t.co/IQfcvZHqmW
— Shane Harris (@shaneharris) March 24, 2025
Not knowing if the chat was real or a hoax, Goldberg remained in the group chat as the members discussed an operation being launched. The journalist then scoured social media for evidence of ongoing airstrikes in Yemen, then deducing that the chat was indeed real.
In his article in The Atlantic, Goldberg withheld many of the most sensitive messages that were sent, but said that it included details of how, when and where operations would take place, and even information regarding the weapons that would be used. Usually, as he explains, this information would belong in a Sensitive Compartmentalised Information Facility (SCIF) where mobile devices are forbidden for security reasons.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council (NSC) confirmed that the chat “appears to be an authentic message chain” and that they “are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added”.
Serious questions over the legality of holding such a discussion over a mobile phone messaging app, both for security reasons and for official archival reasons, are now awash across social media. Chuck Schumer, the Democrat leader in the U.S. Senate, said it was “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I’ve read about in a very, very long time.”
