US Air Force maintains fleet of aging but potent B-2 bombers

Known colloquially as the Stealth Bomber, the Northrop B-2 Spirit was designed for deep penetration missions into heavily defended airspace. It features advanced stealth technology and can carry up to eighty 500-pound GPS-guided JDAM bombs or sixteen 2,400-pound B83 nuclear warheads.

Development began in the 1970s under President Jimmy Carter's administration through the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) program that prioritized stealth. The program faced delays and cost overruns, resulting in only 21 aircraft being built at an average acquisition cost of $737 million each. Support costs increased this figure to over $4 billion per plane. Budget constraints reduced plans from more than 130 aircraft to just 21.

Specifications include a maximum takeoff weight of 376,000 pounds, a maximum speed of 630 miles per hour, and a service ceiling of 50,000 feet. The B-2 can fly approximately 6,000 nautical miles without aerial refueling support and has been used extensively for conventional strikes across Europe and the Middle East since entering service in 1997.

As of now, only 19 operational B-2 bombers remain after two were removed following crashes—the AV-12 Spirit of Kansas in 2008 and AV-16 Spirit of Hawaii fourteen years later. Another aircraft is undergoing repairs after an incident in which its landing gear collapsed.

The fleet will be retired by 2032 when it will be replaced by the new B-21 Raider model.