A B-2 stealth bomber reportedly experienced an in-air malfunction on December 10 with the Air Force being grounded the entire fleet.
According to the reports, the plane conducted an emergency landing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and while on the ground, the plane caught fire.
The spokesperson for the military branch also confirmed the grounding of all 20 of the bombers, adding that there’s now a hunt to discover if any of the other planes have safety defects.
However, the Air Force refused to give more details about the leads that investigators are currently looking for or the nature of the defect which has caused the malfunction in early December.
In an exclusive report released by the Airforce, it was revealed that “All 20 of the Air Force’s B-2 Spirit bombers are grounded as the service hunts for potential safety defects, a spokesperson confirmed Monday. The stealth aircraft will be down until further notice.”
“The Air Force paused the fleet’s operations after a bomber was damaged Dec. 10 at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. An undisclosed in-flight malfunction forced the crew to make an emergency landing on Whiteman’s runway, where firefighters extinguished flames at the scene, according to the 509th Bomb Wing. No one was injured,” the report added.
At the time of writing, investigation into what caused the accident is ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Air Force has also declined to give further information about the incident or what, specifically, the safety inspections are looking to find.
According to 509th Bomb Wing spokesperson Master Sgt. Beth Del Vecchio, “Every incident is unique, and we are currently evaluating what went wrong and how we can mitigate future risk.”
Furthermore, the two-pilot B-2, which is the U.S. military’s most capable nuclear bomber at $1.2 billion per airframe, has been used by the military troops in service since the 1990s.
However, “the stand-down is a blow to a fleet that already struggles to stay ready for action: Air and Space Forces Magazine recently reported B-2 airframes are available for missions about half of the time they are needed,” Air Force Times added.
