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Senior leaders: B-2 has bright future ahead

  • Published
  • By Capt. John Severns
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Senior leaders from across the Air Force visited Whiteman Air Force Base last week to discuss the future of the B-2 Spirit bomber.

The General Officer Steering Group for B-2 Sustainment met on base Sept. 8 and discussed the challenges and solutions for keeping the B-2 fleet healthy and operational for years to come.

The GOSG has been held regularly since Global Strike Command stood up two years ago. It brings together, at the general officer level, almost every organization involved in the B-2 program, from Global Strike Command to Air Force Material Command, operators and war fighters, maintainers and logisticians. These senior members of the group, according to Ann Mitchell, the Air Force Global Strike Command Director of Installations, Logistics and Mission Support, don't attempt to find technical solutions or get stuck in the weeds of the program - instead they provide guidance and priorities for the B-2 enterprise as a whole, and vet major decisions affecting the weapons system.

As with other aircraft, Mitchell said, the B-2 program faces tough sustainment issues.

"The B-2 has a particular set of challenges because of the fleet size," she said. "With only 20 aircraft, every aircraft that's not working is 5 percent of the fleet."

When the Defense Department envisioned the B-2 program in the 1980s, it was with a fleet of more than 100 aircraft. Program cuts following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and assorted cost overruns, led to the fleet size being reduced to only 21 planes. One of those, the Spirit of Kansas, was lost in an accident in 2008.

"The fleet size dynamic, as well as the fact that it's a 20-year-old plane presents unique challenges in supportability," said Mitchell. "Many parts are beginning to fail for the first time. We have to find sources for those new failures."
 
Mitchell also said she anticipates the B-2 will join other venerable platforms with multi-decade service lives.

"The B-2 is programmed to fly to 2058," she said. "So we have to figure out aggressive means to maintain the B-2's capabilities well into the future. Look at the B-52: it's 50 years old. All aircraft are now required to last a long time."

The Air Force has extensive and growing experience with older aircraft. In addition to the B-52, both the KC-135 Stratotanker and T-38 Talon trainer are entering their fifth decade of service.

As part of her visit to Whiteman AFB, Mitchell also met with members of the 19th Munitions Squadron, which currently falls under Air Force Materiel Command. As part of an Air Force chief of staff directive, the 19th MUNS will soon become part of the 509th Bomb Wing.

"The chief of staff directed Global Strike and Air Force Materiel commands to transition all of the munitions squadrons and weapons storage areas to Global Strike Command on a very ambitious schedule," Mitchell said." [Our Full Operational Capability date] is April 2012, but our plan is to transition by December this year, completing the nuclear transformation that we embarked on when Global Strike Command stood up a few years ago."

As a leader in Global Strike Command since its stand-up, Mitchell has had a front-row seat to the reinvigoration of the nuclear enterprise.

"I have seen a tremendous difference in the things we've been able to accomplish in the past two years," she said. "There's still a lot progress that needs to be made. We are dealing with problems that didn't get here overnight; so we're not going to fix everything over night, but I believe we're making a huge difference. I'm very proud of the people in A 4/7."