Chinese firm claims its AI system detected four B-2 bombers at start of Iran War: Report

B-2 Spirit bomber, the original “Stealth Bomber”, may have exposed itself to an AI system, according to a report. A Hangzhou defence firm, Jingan Technology, has claimed that it was able to intercept radio signals from four of these bombers with the call signs Petro 41 to 44. The AI system even reconstructed their flight path over Iran. However, the company provided no recordings or transcripts to back the claim. B-2 bombers have played a significant role in several US operations, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and most recently Operation Midnight Hammer and the current Operation Epic Fury, both against Iran. The news was first reported by Interesting Engineering (IE) in March this year. The outlet wrote that Jingan provides intelligence-gathering services to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The company claims that it detected signs of a US-Israel military action in the region long before the conflict even began on February 28. The outlet quoted the company as saying that its Jingqi war-monitoring system reconstructed a sequence of signals which showed that the US was mobilising for war. This includes open-source intelligence on February 6, when the US-Iran talks started on the Iranian missile program. Upon analysing the information, it was found that there was "a steady increase in US military deployments near Iran."

The specific tracking of the B2 bombers happened on March 1 when the US deployed four B-2A Spirit stealth bombers, a day after the US and Israel hit the first targets in Iran. The next day, a social media post started circulating stating that Jingqi had picked up radio transmissions from the B-2 that were on their way back. The company also reconstructed the Spirits’ flight path using its AI technology.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which Interesting Engineering also cited, the Jingqi system relies on satellite imagery, aviation trajectory data, and public military records to interpret reconnaissance flight patterns, and can even detect the types of aircraft stationed at military bases. But with no proof being offered about the stealth bombers being detected and no independent verification yet, the report that the B-2 bombers were compromised remains a mere claim.

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing conflicts in West Asia involving Israel, Iran, the US, Gulf nations and non-state actors like Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, Islamic State, and others. Claims and counterclaims, disinformation and misinformation are being made online and offline. Given this context, WION cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, social media posts, photos and videos.