New Reply

Post a Reply

Thread: What's wrong with B-2 bomber?

Title: (100 characters at most)

Content: ( 3,000 characters at most, please )

You can add emoticons below to your post by clicking them.

[quote=SHESGOTTOBE,272398]B-2 Spirit bomber crashes shortly after takeoff in Guam

One of the United States' premier aircraft crashed yesterday in Guam. The B-2 Spirit bomber took off from Anderson Air Force Base (AFB), but crashed shortly after -- thankfully, both pilots were able to eject safely and are listed in good condition.

The downed B-2 Spirit was one of four stealth bombers that were to leave Guam for Missouri after a four-month deployment. One other stealth bomber took to the air before the crash, but was ordered to turn back around and land at Anderson AFB. The three stealth aircraft remain grounded in Guam.

The B-2 Spirit that crashed was unarmed and there were no injuries on the ground or damage to buildings and support vehicles. The only loss was of the $1.2 billion aircraft.

This was the first crash for an operational B-2 Spirit. It's too early to speculate on a cause for the crash, but the Air Force is already piecing together data to conduct its investigation.

The B-2 Spirit was first shown unveiled to the public in 1988 and made its maiden voyage on July 17, 1989. The first operational B-2, the Spirit of Missouri, was delivered to Whiteman AFB on December 17, 1993.

Since its introduction, the B-2 has seen combat service in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The B-2 Spirit was developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. and is powered by four General Electric F-118-GE-100 engines which provide 17,300 lbs of thrust each. The aircraft has a typical takeoff weight of 336,500 pounds (payload of 40,000 pounds), a service ceiling of 50,000 feet, and a top speed in the "high subsonic" range.

There were 21 active B-2 bombers before the crash -- all except the Spirit of Kitty Hawk and Fatal Beauty were named after U.S. states.

[/quote]

characters left

Name:

Get a new code