[The Warzone] While it's fair to say we've seen our share of impressive lineups of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers in the past, including their involvement in elephant walks as well as amassed at foreign airbases, it's not every day that 12 B-2s take to the sky in succession.
That's exactly what happened at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, on April 15, when a dozen B-2s took part in a mass fly-off exercise. This was so many of the bombers that none of the official pictures from the event, seen at the top of this story and below, show all 12 aircraft at once. This represents the majority of the total number of B-2s currently operated by the Air Force, which stands at 20 aircraft, per the service, although one is damaged during a landing incident at the base and another is still undergoing repairs from a similar incident. Of that number, typically only 11 or 12 are actually "deployed" under the terms of the New START treaty with Russia and are available for combat missions.
Regardless, the type is extremely maintenance intensive and is the most expensive direct combat airframe to fly in the USAF's inventory. Having 12 of these jets available at any given time to take to the skies at all is highly impressive. |
