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B-2A set to fly until 2058
A high level US Air Force meeting at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri says the Spirit is set to fly for another 47 years.
September 27:
At a high level US Air Force meeting at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the General Officer Steering Group (GOSG) for B-2 Sustainment confirmed the bomber will fly until 2058 on current plans.
"The B-2 is programmed to fly to 2058," said Ann Mitchell, the Air Force Global Strike Command director of Installations, Logistics and Mission Support.
"So we have to figure out aggressive means to maintain the B-2's capabilities well into the future. Look at the B-52: it's 50 years old. All aircraft are now required to last a long time."
The GOSG has been held regularly since Global Strike Command stood up two years ago.
It brings together, at the general-officer level, almost every organisation involved in the B-2 programme. As with other aircraft, the B-2 programme faces tough sustainment issues, Mitchell said.
"The B-2 has a particular set of challenges because of the fleet size," she added. "With only 20 aircraft, every aircraft that's not working is five percent of the fleet."
When Defense Department officials envisioned the B-2 programme in the 1980s, it was with a fleet of more than 100 aircraft.
Programme cuts following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and assorted cost overruns, led to the fleet size being reduced to only 21 aircraft.
One of those, the Spirit of Kansas, was lost in an accident in 2008.
"The fleet size dynamic, as well as the fact that it's a 20-year-old plane presents unique challenges in supportability.
Many parts are beginning to fail for the first time. We have to find sources for those new failures," Mitchell said.