On April 8, 1999, Major Tom Bussiere looked out on the ink-black night sky from his mission commander’s seat of the B-2 stealth bomber. While contemplating his future (at what altitude stays classified), Bussiere saw flashes of lightning far below, rippling through the large thunderstorm clouds that filled your complete horizon. It had been a protracted flight to enemy airspace—14 hours nonstop—and an excellent longer previous few months. The B-2 pilots and their maintainers had been told to expect a bombing campaign of two or three nights at the beginning of the Kosovo War. This was their third month of round the clock operations.
And now, a really dangerous mission awaited.
For the primary time in history, two B-2 bombers were sent to penetrate enemy airspace in wartime with none Allied support aircraft to assist. The weather over Yugoslavia was chaotic, but critical targets needed to be hit. For the B-2 pilots, flying at high altitude above the weather and dropping bombs was one thing, but avoiding enemy radar and aircraft was quite one other. The B-2 wasn’t invisible to radar or the naked eye—it was just much harder to seek out and track.
Just 12 days earlier, an enemy surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. F-117, a fighter that shared similar stealthy qualities because the B-2, in the identical airspace. The excellent news was that the 2 black jets had ultra-secret low-observable stealth technology and a combat load of smart bombs called Joint Directed Attack Munitions (JDAMs). The bad news was that by design, that they had no defensive weapons of any kind and so they didn’t have enough speed to outrun enemy surface-to-air missiles or fighters. The pilots were surely dead if discovered and tracked down by the enemy air defense network or an enemy MiG-29 fighter.
Bussiere turned his head away from the stormy night and checked out his fellow warfighter within the left seat of the B-2. He spoke quietly over the intercom with focused determination. “Weapons check complete, let’s go, it’s game time.” The opposite pilot nodded in agreement. Bussiere reached forward along with his gloved left hand and pushed the “PEN” (penetrate) button on the instrument panel dashboard edge, which robotically configured the jet to maximum stealth mode. The 4 pilots within the two jets began to prep for combat, securing their pistols, donning their survival vests, and rechecking their ejection seats.
They were ready for the moment, but knew they would wish every little bit of luck they might get tonight. Utterly alone, yet unafraid, they flew the 2 giant bombers into the battle, feet dry in enemy territory.
A Reveal That Shocked the World
On this handout photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, the B-2 flies over Edwards Air Force Base on August 14, 2003 over California. On the time, the B-2 Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force dropped two newly upgraded 5,000-pound GBU-28 bombs for the primary time.
It’s hard to totally encapsulate the shock that the general public experienced during Northrop Grumman’s initial announcement and display of the B-2 bomber on November 22, 1988. The B-2 was futuristic—and downright sinister. While there had been flying wing designs in each Germany during WWII and within the U.S. after the war (also built by Northrop), neither really resembled the enormous black jet in anything aside from basic shape.
The designers also will need to have had a humorousness and appreciation for one particular movie—you may see that by looking head-on on the jet. While we’ll likely never officially know if Northrop’s B-2 designers were big fans of the 1977 blockbuster movie Star Wars and its anti-hero Darth Vader, the cockpit shape is a virtual similar copy of Vader’s helmet.
The stealth bomber design team, including Armenian-American aircraft designer Hal Markarian, hand-drew the primary sketches for a “Configuration Study” of the B-2 in June 1979. They were largely unknown to the surface world, and didn’t get out much throughout the heady years once they drafted plans for the now-iconic jet. But one thing is of course: the otherworldly and revolutionary bomber that resulted from those efforts was pure science fiction, galactic evil, and Pax Americana combined in a single earthly weapons system.
Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the early days of this system. After the worldwide sensation generated by its announcement, the longer term of the B-2 plunged into darkness.
The Bomber That Almost Wasn’t
Within the early Nineteen Nineties, the futuristic jet was close—razor thin—to being completely cancelled. The B-2 bomber’s No. 1 goal, the Soviet Union, began dissolving in 1988, and a number of years later, the socialist state had melted into pieces. At its collapse, the U.S. tried pounding swords into ploughshares; that left the B-2, one of the crucial expensive targets within the Department of Defense (DOD), on the chopping block. In 1992, even Republican President George H. W. Bush tried to kill the B-2 program.
As a substitute of being outright canceled, the B-2’s numbers were severely reduced. As a substitute of the initial order of 132 bombers, the DOD only ordered 20. For this reason, the B-2 is the most costly aircraft on the earth, costing $2.2 billion per jet. The flock could have been culled, however it would survive.
Fast forward to 1999, when Bussiere’s two crews were in Yugoslavian airspace with a formidable air defense system below them. Because the B-2 reached initial operational capability (IOC) in 1997, everyone in this system was itching to fight, shake the “airshow queen” moniker, and show the world what the super-secret bomber could do in combat. The Kosovo War offered that chance.
While the B-2 bomber was initially designed for deep penetration into the Soviet Union to drop nuclear gravity bombs, it was moreover configured within the mid-Nineteen Nineties to incorporate a standard bomb-drop capability of 20 tons—a combat load heavier than either the B-1 or the legendary B-52 bomber could carry.
As Whiteman Air Force Base in Johnson, Missouri hummed with activity, key players began prepping the stealth bomber for war as a part of the upcoming NATO air campaign against Serbia. The maintainers fully understood methods to take care of the radar absorbent materials (RAM) on the jet; planners knew methods to precisely maximize the low observable qualities of the jet to navigate the safest path through a heavy air defense system; and pilots understood the demands of 30-plus hours of non-stop flight, including multiple refueling missions.
Exclusive: Popular Mechanics Q&A With Lt. Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere
Utilizing Joint Direct Attack Munitions for the primary time in history throughout the Kosovo War, the B-2 struck devastated Serbia, even despite the worst weather. In keeping with Rebecca Grant, creator of the book The B-2 Goes to War, nearly 4,000 sorties were cancelled within the 78-day NATO bombing campaign attributable to poor weather conditions—but not the B-2 ones.
The stealth jet flew so high that it wasn’t generally affected by weather, and it dropped its bombs with stunning precision through the clouds, wind, and rain. In keeping with the U.S. Air Force, the B-2 was liable for destroying 33 percent of the Serbian targets in the primary eight weeks of the U.S. involvement within the Kosovo War. After 78 days, the war was over when the Serbians capitulated.
The B-2’s combat debut was stellar, but everyone in this system knew it needed to get even higher.
The B-2 Meets the twenty first Century
Northrop Grumman is currently updating B-2 cockpits by “replacing the cathode ray tube monitor-based subsystem,” in response to the corporate.
From the B-2 bomber’s first flight in 1989 to its first combat missions in 1999, the contents contained in the bomber with the 2 crew members was largely a mystery; Northrop Grumman had released only a single official photograph of the flight deck instrument panel within the history of this system as much as that time.
That photograph revealed largely Seventies and Nineteen Eighties analog technology. It might take years—and constant and unrelenting development—for the jet’s internals, revolutionary shape, and coatings to catch as much as what we now recognize within the B-2. With a fleet of only 20 airplanes today, upgrades are constant, and Northrop has stripped each jet inside and outside no less than once of their careers, refitting them with the latest technology available.
Among the many upgrades are more advanced radar absorbent materials; digital systems and software; updated avionics; and enhanced combat capabilities.
“Northrop Grumman continues to partner with the U.S. Air Force to further advance the effectiveness and viability of the B-2 Spirit. Ongoing improvements to Low Observable and Mission Systems on the aircraft will proceed to expand the supply and capability of the platform,” Shaugn Reynolds, vp and B-2 program manager for Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, tells Popular Mechanics. “One item we’re currently modernizing is the cockpit, by replacing the cathode ray tube monitor-based subsystem.”
However the bomber’s shape and constant tech upgrades aren’t the true secret of the jet; I’m a civilian with no security clearances, and I do know just one “secret” in regards to the legendary program. It’s not classified, however it has never before been told.
The Most Experienced Pilot Cadre
So few pilots have ever flown the B-2 that everyone who does so is awarded a “Spirit” number, denoting the order wherein they flew the airplane. I became “Spirit 691” after I had the respect of becoming the primary person in history, civilian or military, to each fly and film aboard the aircraft.
I also flew a 24-hour mission within the B-2 simulator, a flight required to grow to be a B-2 pilot. These experiences have given me the chance to satisfy and gain a novel insight into the hidden heroes of the B-2 program—the employees who construct her, maintain her, and fly her.
Considered one of the early Spirit number pilots, for example, shared some non-classified (but vital) facts in regards to the highly insular B-2 culture. Like virtually every B-2 pilot, he prefers anonymity, so we’ll call him “Shadow.”
“Here’s the true secret to the stealth bomber,” he tells Popular Mechanics. “The B-2 pilot cadre is without query probably the most widely experienced and diverse in your complete military for a really, very specific reason. We actively hunt down pilots from every aviation platform within the military—even the opposite services—because we integrate the B-2 with those aircraft and their capabilities so intimately.”
✈︎ B-2 Bomber: By the Numbers
Virtually every part in regards to the B-2 program has been a secret since its inception; here’s a temporary take a look at the jet—by the numbers—as gleaned from public sources.
•Total aircraft: 21
Twenty were initially combat-coded. One ground test-bed airframe, never meant to fly, was converted right into a flyable combat-coded aircraft in 1996, bringing the whole to 21. A second ground testbed aircraft is on the National Museum of the US Air Force. One aircraft was lost in an accident in Guam in 2008. Each pilots ejected and survived. Twenty are still in service today.
• Latest B-2 pilots produced during their milestone one hundredth pilot training class: 4
They’re Spirits No. 745, No. 746, No. 747, and No. 748, who join over 500 trained combat qualified pilots who got here before them. The rest “other” fliers include test pilots, an astronaut, exchange pilots, maintainers and distinguished visitors.
• Spirit number holders with the surname Smith: 6
Even with the distant likelihood of ever flying the B-2, your possibilities is likely to be increased if that is your last name. However, it’s considered one of the commonest last names within the U.S.
• There have been more NASA astronauts than B-2 pilots.
• Two fathers, after which their sons, have flown the jet.
• 4 couples (where each husband and wife are B-2 pilots), have flown the jet.
• An individual is more prone to be crushed to death by a soda machine than to fly a B-2.
The black jet, he explains, even with its amazing technology and low observable qualities, will take you simply to date. With the notable exception of the Kosovo War sortie, the aircraft almost never flies alone. As a substitute, it flies in enormously complex and layered strike packages amongst many differing types of aircraft with varied roles during a mission.
Pilots’ previous experiences coming into the B-2 cockpit fully reflect that approach. “We’ve got former bomber, fighter, and attack pilots, in addition to tanker, air-lifter, reconnaissance, command and control, helicopter, and UAV pilots,” Shadow says. They could be highly experienced pilots and even recent graduates from military flight school. “We’ve got Spirit pilots who were former navigators, weapons systems operators, maintainers, security forces, and even one from acquisitions—we want all of them.”
The B-2 pilots I met after I flew the jet with Spirit No. 606 were a disparate set of flyers—all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities. I asked Shadow about that, and the intensity of his response told me every part I needed to know in regards to the tight B-2 culture.
“Look,” he says with firmness, “B-2 pilots are only limited by their vision, drive, and preparation. The jet doesn’t care who you’re. We seek professionalism and humility in our corps, not gender or color. For instance, while it’s gratifying to see the nation and the military celebrating Black History Month annually, the B-2 community has been doing that for the reason that Nineteen Nineties.
“It’s the identical with the present and much-needed effort to focus on females within the military—for the last 20 years, the B-2 community has produced no less than ten female pilots, and so they are all on the ‘combat shooters’ list. All of them,” Shadow continues. “There isn’t any glass ceiling here. It’s simply and absolutely all about true combat capability. All of us carry the pride and the spirit (with the coveted B-2 coin) for the lads and girls who conceived and manufactured, maintain, and fly this combat-proven badass B-2 aircraft!”
Why the B-2’s Future Is Brilliant
A B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber proceeds to an undisclosed location after completing a mission over Iraq, March 27, 2003.
When the Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman the brand new B-21 Raider contract, it was assumed that the prevailing bomber fleet—comprised of the B-1, B-2, and B-52—could be dramatically decreased or cut altogether. Not true. While the B-1B fleet, flown hard within the Global War on Terror, appears headed for the earliest retirement, the Air Force has prioritized significant upgrades for the B-2 and B-52. Each jets can be armed with each conventional and nuclear-tipped payloads when Raytheon’s LRSO (Long Range Stand Off) missile comes online.
The B-2 can be receiving greater than $1 billion in upgrades in the approaching years for its unique low observable qualities and technology to guarantee that each one 20 airframes will fly well into the longer term, while the B-21 reaches initial (after which full) operating capability.
It also doesn’t hurt that, for the reason that inception of this system and thru multiple combat missions each known and unknown, no surface-to-air or air-to-air missile has ever been fired at a B-2. So there’s a reasonably good likelihood that the stealth bomber will survive until the subsequent generation is able to take over.
Completing the 30-Hour Mission
Back to our 4 pilots and their grueling flight over the Atlantic in April 1999. The 2-ship formation of B-2s had already gotten their feet wet, heading back west-bound across the Atlantic Ocean on the historic night once they flew into combat alone over Kosovo—however the completion of their top-secret, 30-hour mission was still hours away.
Because all the other combat sorties scheduled for that night were cancelled attributable to inclement weather, Bussiere retargeted all 16 of his jet’s bombs to cover planned F-117 targets, and each weapon was dropped accurately with devastating results.
Upon returning into American airspace, Air Traffic Control got here over the radio with a brief, skilled message: “Welcome home gentlemen.” All 4 B-2 pilots from that mission were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), which was established in 1926 and is America’s oldest military aviation award. It’s awarded “to any officer or enlisted person of the Armed Forces of the US who shall have distinguished themselves in actual combat in support of operations by heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.”
A distinguished award for not only distinguished pilots, but a hell of a distinguished bomber.
This story was originally published on September 13, 2021.
