B-2 bombers return to Guam

After what happened the last time they were there, I'm not sure this is the best idea, but two B-2 Spirit bombers are heading back to Anderson AB Guam to forward deploy. Anderson has been a routine forward deployment base for B-1 and B-52 bombers, but the B-2 was pulled after two major accidents resulted in the loss of one airframe, and almost the loss of a second (18 months to repair it enough to fly back to the US after an engine fire).

The Air Force has dubbed it the "Spirit World Tour". The aircraft will be able to strike targets in the Middle East, as well as China if necessary. There is also talk of forward basing several aircraft in Australia.

The Spirit is capable of hitting targets in Asia and the Middle East from their base at Whiteman Missouri, but forward deploying them allows a faster response time. The B-2 is also the only aircraft capable of carrying the 30,000lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which was just recently upgraded.

In November 2012, the U.S. Air Forced announced a series of worldwide training deployments to to each of the US combatant command’s areas of responsibility of the stealthy B-2 Spirit bombers.

The “World Spirit Tour”, as the deployment was dubbed by the Air Force Magazine, will bring the first two radar evading planes from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, to the Pacific theater.

Destination: Andersen Air Force Base.

theaviationist.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58


China doesn't seem to be hiding their stance.. The art of war sun tzu seems to be ignored..
The US is acting the same, regarding what should or would be secret..

I think it's posing for now, but is the world just asking for war? Seems unavoidable almost.

reply to post by Dustytoad


Between the Senkaku Islands, and the Spratly Islands, I'm just waiting for WESTPAC to blow up in our faces. They're pushing for something big to happen there, and it's just a matter of time now, with everyone adding more and more to the mix and not even trying to calm things down.

reply to post by Zaphod58

Massive Ordnance Penetrator

That's what she said.

I'm happy to hear the B-2 is being deployed again.
And funny how we announce to the world that a plane that will kill you without even knowing it was there is back out in the wild.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Explanation: S&F!

Should be easy for China and Russia to see them coming when there are webcams on Guam!

The South China Sea IS China's OK ... it is called that for a very GOOD reason!

And you can't contain Putin! :shk: Short Range Nuke missiles stationed on Cuba would be the reply!

This is just to reassure Japan and South Korea against North Korea's inexperienced leader .. and he has offered a peace treaty to South Korea!

Who wants Japan to build nuke weapons for self defence after the Fukashima FAIL!

So this ramping up the pressure is purely a political and not military manouver.

Personal Disclosure: As for Australia ... we could and should protect ourselves ... care to sell us a couple of B-2's?

If not ... then why should Australia care when the USA wont share. :shk:

reply to post by OmegaLogos


You can't afford what it would cost to restart the production line and build new ones, and you probably don't want hand me downs, since you'd get the crappiest ones the Air Force has (like Spirit of Washington, although they'd probably keep that one since it underwent over three years of maintenance).

reply to post by Zaphod58


Explanation: St*rred!

Thanks for letting me know about that ... I will be sure to let my local member of federal parliment know that the USA is unwilling to share with it's Australian friends when it is needed.

However we could possibly afford it if Australia continued to focus on the Super Hornet instead of buying the somewhat dodgy and as yet unproven F-35

Personal Disclosure: The USA doesn't seem to be having much luck with its 5th generation fighter jets at all. :shk:

Originally posted by Zaphod58
The B-2 is also the only aircraft capable of carrying the 30,000lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which was just recently upgraded.

And there it is, Zaph.

The B-2's were also specially outfitted for the sole purpose of carrying MOP. This munition was fast tracked and now there it is in a forward theater location.

Next stop Fordo?

reply to post by OmegaLogos


They're also the only country in the world to have an operational fifth generation fighter, with another in testing, and rumors of more in the pipeline. So there are bound to be issues.

reply to post by METACOMET


It also just underwent an upgrade that will allow it to penetrate better than ever. It's believed to have gotten a new fuse, and new tail fins to allow greater penetration, but they haven't said anything other than it was upgraded. It was designed to penetrate up to 200 feet before exploding.

reply to post by OmegaLogos


I have to suppose that your post is "Australian" Humor. Cuz it sure doesn't make any sense.

First, the "South China" Sea should belong to South China, last I heard, there's no such place.

Second, the "good reason" is some British sea captian was indulging in his opium cargo and couldn't think of a better name.

Third, no one owns an international sea.

Fourth, every US base has webcams..it hasn't stopped them from being effective.

Yep, must be humor.....

reply to post by Zaphod58


Did you get a chance ot look at that video I posted?

reply to post by nwtrucker


Very cool! That was fun to watch.

reply to post by Zaphod58


s&f mate, this is interesting.
Has the US moved their aircraft carriers closer to the Pacific region too?
Do carriers have stealth aircraft?
Just wondering thats all.

reply to post by LeLeu


The USS George Washington is home ported in Japan (my brother has flown over there to go out on her twice, with a third in the works to upgrade their computer networks).

Right now the carrier cupboard is very very bare. Most of the fleet is in for refit, and the few that are operational, besides Washington are in the ME, or heading that way. There was only one carrier in the Middle East recently, for the first time since like 1991 or so.

As for stealth aircraft, not yet. The first carrier borne stealth aircraft is supposed to be the F-35C (the B will be flown off amphib carriers such as the new America class, and the Wasp). There are some new designs in the pipeline, but they're still several years away from first flight, and quite a ways from operational.

reply to post by Zaphod58

Originally posted by Zaphod58
After what happened the last time they were there, I'm not sure this is the best idea, but two B-2 Spirit bombers are heading back to Anderson AB Guam to forward deploy.

I remeber when "Spirit of Kansas" 89-0127 crashed. My friend was the Dedicated Crew chief and I myself used to work on it when my aircraft was flying. I was assigned to "Spirit of America" 82-1066 for about 2 years as Assistant Dedicated Crew Chief then reassigned to "Spirit of Kitty Hawk" 93-1086 prior to leaving Active Duty and joining the Air National Guard so that I could be back in my home state.

The B-2 was a pretty amazing aircraft to work on and I sometimes miss those days. The coolest thing I remember was when R. Lee Ermey flew my aircraft for the History Channel's Mail Call in which he presented me with his personalized coin.

reply to post by iwan2ski


The Spirit of Washington is still at Palmdale for repairs. She left Guam, and landed there August 16, 2011 and was going to require 2 years of work, after 18 months of work on Guam due to an engine fire.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by iwan2ski

 

The Spirit of Washington is still at Palmdale for repairs. She left Guam, and landed there August 16, 2011 and was going to require 2 years of work, after 18 months of work on Guam due to an engine fire.

Is that where you're located, Palmdale? I never worked on 88-0332 Spirit of Washington. It was assigned to our brother flight the 393rd. My flight was the 325th, though we worked in the same buildings and hangers, there was a rivalry betweens us and stuck to our assigned acft for the most part.

reply to post by OmegaLogos


I think Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines would argue that the South China sea is China's...

Does this also make the Indian ocean, India's?

reply to post by iwan2ski


Oh, I'm all over the place really. I just keep a close eye on things.

Spirit of Washington underwent 18 months of repairs, then was speed and altitude limited, and had a -135 "chase" plane full of NG engineers play pathfinder for it looking for turbulence, the entire way back. They used Fairchild -135s, so that they could get a full load of fuel after take off, to keep airframe stress down as much as possible. When it got back to Palmdale, it officially went into PDM, but it's also to finish the repairs and rebuild the aft structure.