B-2s to Return to Flight after Five Months

The U.S. Air Force’s B-2 Spirits will soon return to flight, five months after the entire fleet of stealth bombers were grounded in the wake of one plane’s Dec. 10 emergency landing. 

Air Force officials have lifted the safety pause, and flight operations are expected to resume on May 22, according to Rose Riley, an Air Force spokesperson. Air & Space Forces Magazine first reported the coming return to flight. 

“During the safety pause, we erred on the side of prudence and caution to assess any possible safety of flight issues, deliberately and methodically, within the fleet. We successfully accomplished all necessary actions to safely return to full flight operations with the B-2 fleet,” Riley said.

She did not say what those actions were. 

Indeed, Air Force officials have never said what went wrong with the bomber that was forced to land at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, home to the service’s 20 B-2s. No one was hurt in the December mishap, which involved a fire after landing. 

“Throughout the fleet safety pause, our ability to execute our mission was never at risk: the B-2 fleet could still fly missions on the orders of the President of the United States or in support of the National Command Authority,” Riley said.

The safety pause was an “important step” to ensure reliability of B-2s, said Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“Seeing them return to service is very good news, for there are multiple policy options whose execution is fundamentally reliant on those 20 bombers. The fact that we are so dependent on such a small number of these aircraft speaks to why rapid fielding of the B-21 in high numbers is crucial,” Birkey said.

The B-2 is the U.S. military’s only stealthy nuclear-capable heavy bomber. The Air Force also operates several dozen nuclear-capable B-52 heavy bombers.