April 28,2008:
After 53 days of being grounded, the U.S. B-2 bomber is flying again. The
bomber was unofficially grounded after one of them crashed shortly after taking
off from an airbase on the Pacific island of Guam two months ago [PHOTO]. The B-2 was
not officially grounded because it's uncertain what caused the crash. Without
that knowledge, there's nothing to fix on the remaining 20 bombers.The air force would not discuss what problems
there might have been with the B-2.
The most
expensive aircraft ever, each of the 21 B-2s costs over $2 billion (development
and construction costs combined). The 170 ton aircraft can carry 22 tons of
bombs. There's not a big need for the B-2 at the moment, as the older B-1s and
B-52scan deliver bombs cheaper, and
just as reliably. Smart bombs have greatly reduced the need for heavy bombers,
since one smart bomb can do the job of hundreds of "dumb" bombs. The greater
accuracy and reliability of GPS guided JDAM smart bombs means that smaller
bombs are now preferred. Thus a heavy bomber can carry over two hundred 250
pound SDB smart bombs. As a result, it's not unusual to only need one heavy
bomber over Iraq, or Afghanistan, taking care of all requests from combat
troops below.
The B-2 is
stealthy, and this would be a major asset in a war against a nation with a
decent air defense systems (radars and missiles.) Thus the air force took its
time discovering what went wrong with the B-2 on Guam (where four of the
bombers were stationed), so that changes can be made to the other B-2s. The
stealth aspects of the B-2 make for a very complex aircraft. Not just the
tricky radar absorbing skin, but many mechanical and electronic systems as
well. That's why the aircraft is so expensive, and you want to take your time
trying to figure out what's not working.