Air Force: B-2 stealth bomber crashes on Guam; both pilots ejected safely, in good condition

[General Zod]

Source: Associated Press - February 22, 2008 11:03 PM ET


HAGATNA, Guam (AP) - The Air Force says a B-2 stealth bomber crashed on Guam, but the pilots ejected safely.

The Air Force says Friday the pilots are both in good condition. Emergency responders are on the scene at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.

A board of officers will investigate the crash.

Read more: http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=7914006&nav=0zGo

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Is there any reason for having B2's in the air anymore?

[Lex1775]

4. They make good first strike weapons platforms...

I'd rather have a couple of B-2's bouncing around then the dozens of B-52's that used to be in the air 24/7 during the 80's.

[FogerRox]

7. DO mean like, we use them in Iraq, and what the hell are we doin in there anyway..

SO thusly what the frick are the B-2's doin in the air anymore ?

The B-2 is a great back up to black/special ops. I'm sure they were just on a training mission. >wink<

[burrowowl]

10. Apparently

the USAF is dropping 4 500-pounders a day as opposed to 4 a week before the surge. 500-pounders are called blockbusters, used to destroy cities.

[The Croquist]

22. 500 pound bombs are not "blockbusters"

A 500 pound bomb is about an average size bomb. The biggest bombs I know of, that have been used, were used in WWII and weighed 22,000 pounds. That's 44 times the weight of your "blockbuster"

[TheWraith]

32. You really have no idea what you're talking about

500-pound bombs are not "blockbusters" and are nowhere near large enough to destroy cities. Even the largest non-nuclear bomb we have, which is 20,000 pounds, could only destroy a small section of a city.

[daleo]

34. "Blockbuster" refers to destroying about a city block

Enough of them could be said to be "used to destroy cities". Thousand bomber raids were not unknown in WWII. In practice, though, it was the incendiaries that did the major work in "city destroying" previous to the atom bomb (e.g. Dresden).

Blockbusters helped that along, by blowing roofs off houses and breaking gas lines, both of which helped to set fires.

I suppose a 500 pound bomb would take out a few houses, but not a whole block.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_bomb

[jmowreader]

38. Not out of a B-2, they aren't

I guess that if you dropped a LOT of 500-lb bombs on a city you could destroy it, but you've basically got to use a C-5 as a bomber if you want to do it that way.

A GBU-43 "Massive Ordnance Air Burst" (because they can't call it the Mother of All Bombs in official Air Force documents, and that's what the troops were calling it at first) weighs 21,000 pounds, it's GPS-guided and dropped out of a cargo plane, and even it wouldn't destroy a city unless you used a lot of them or it wasn't a very big city.

[heliarc]

17. Russia has their bombers making long runs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20189910/

Longer than they were. Everyone's flexing... Russia has naval operations around Iran now.

[BearSquirrel2]

24. Notice that the "pilots scrambled to greet them"

Somehow, Air Force jets can be scrambled to protect Guam. But we were incapable of scrambling jets to PROTECT OUR NATIONS CAPITOL on 9/11. It was either extreme incompetence or willfully allowing our country to be attacked.

[jody]

2. That's nearly one billion dollars. I'm glad the crew survived. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

3. Another $2.1 Billion plane lost

Your tax dollars at work.

[seriousstan]

6. Your exchange rate must be reversed. The price was $1.2 billion.

[Canuckistanian]

8. Here's my source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_Spirit

The cost of the B-2 program in 1994 dollars was reported at $737 million per plane; however, the total cost of the program with development, spares, and facilities averaged over $2.1 billion per plane as of 1997 according to the B-2 program office.<1>

[seriousstan]

11. Do you count the price of your garage into the price of your car?

I don't.

[sofa king]

12. When I'm paying for both and can't use either?

I sure as hell do.

[seriousstan]

13. That's about stupid. I count the value of my garage separate from my car.

My car comes and goes but the garage remains.

[The Stranger]

15. Your garage is built to accomodate many different types of cars. B-2 facilities -- only B-2's.

[The Croquist]

21. My car comes and goes too but rarely in the garage!

My garage seems to be for junk.

[bhikkhu]

35. The 900 mil difference is just some washers and toilet seats anyway

when you are the Pentagon

[daleo]

5. Expensive crash

I wonder if there was anything more to it than simply an accident? That's a pretty strategic area.

[heliarc]

16. And with russia flying bomber sorties as far as the bering strait...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20189910/

[PsN2Wind]

9. I once calculated the cost of these things

and at that time they cost MORE than their weight in gold. Of course since Bush sank the dollar, that may no longer be the case.

[lapfog_1]

14. If made completely from solid gold, they would cost

today $2,387,948,800.

Given that the replacement for this one (should congress order it) would be between $1.2 and $2.1 B, it looks like they are safely worth a little less than their weight in gold. But not by a lot.

[Zachstar]

18. 2 Billion dollars!

There is a reason these aircraft aren't supposed to be flown around more than once or twice a year.

They are designed to face an impossible enemy who controls the skies and is at full war with the United States.

To put it into other terms from what it is rumored this is like a theoretical US bomber during WW2 that could have struck Nazi targets PERFECTLY DEEP within their most protected cities with theoretically more radar, night fighters, flak coverage than the soviet union at it's height. And not get scratched. A way to hurt badly an enemy who has surrounded you and is raining down arrows.

I dont want such a craft flying around Guam they need to be under constant loving care at home so that we wont be tempted to build more.

You know they will be screaming for a replacement now. With something.

[caraher]

23. Which comes around to the question of why they're flying in the first place

Answer: to justify their existence. We're long past the notion that a strategic weapon is doing its job if it doesn't get used

[Karenina]

19. Was it raining?

:silly:

[maddezmom]

20. In a first, $1.2 billion stealth crashes Sat Feb 23, 5:06 AM ET

HAGATNA, Guam - A B-2 stealth bomber plunged to the ground shortly after taking off from an air base in Guam on Saturday, the first time one crashed, but both pilots ejected safely, Air Force officials said.


The aircraft was taking off with three others on their last flight out of Guam after a four-month deployment, part of a continuous U.S. bomber presence in the western Pacific. After the crash, the other three bombers were being kept on Guam, said Maj. Eric Hilliard at Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii.

At least one B-2 bomber had taken off safely from Andersen Air Force Base but was brought back when another aircraft plunged to the ground.

There were no injuries on the ground or damage to buildings, and no munitions were on board. Each B-2 bomber costs about $1.2 billion to build.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080223/ap_on_re_us/b2_crash;_ylt=AtW3ybRqctB1bswsXqYgMI6s0NUE

[Babette]

25. Here's the Guam Pacific Daily News link, with photo

http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080224/NEWS01/802240311

clip
"As smoke from fire billowed upwards over northern Guam after the crash, Marianne Blas of Yigo said a smell "like burning tires" wafted over her ranch just outside of Andersen. Blas said the stink was so strong it chased her and her husband out of the ranch, where planes fly overhead daily.
"We left and I felt like I needed to shower," she said.

Yesterday's accident was the second time an aircraft from Andersen has crashed in the last two weeks. On Feb. 12, a Navy EA-6B Prowler crashed into the water about 20 miles northeast of Ritidian Point. Three crew members were rescued by helicopters within a half-hour."

[f the letter]

26. Stealth bomber crashes; pilots safe

Source: cnn... but still

The aircraft was taking off with three others on their last flight out of Guam after a four-month deployment, part of a continuous U.S. bomber presence in the western Pacific. After the crash, the other three bombers were being kept on Guam, said Maj. Eric Hilliard at Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii.

At least one B-2 bomber had taken off safely from Andersen Air Force Base but was brought back when another aircraft plunged to the ground.

There were no injuries on the ground or damage to buildings, and no munitions were on board. Each B-2 bomber costs about $1.2 billion to build.
=====snip====

The rotations are designed to boost the U.S. security presence in the Asia-Pacific region while other U.S. forces diverted to fight in the Middle East.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/23/stealth.bomber.crash.ap/index.html

---

When i first read the article, it just said that the rotations are part of a 'permanent U.S. bomber presence in the western pacific'. Interesting the way they change these things so quickly..


By the way how much money and carbon-impact does it cost and have to fly bombers over the western pacific until judgment day?

[Bozita]

27. a $1.2 BILLION warplane ... Hey, that's our money!

[tinrobot]

28. Don't worry... the deductible is only $500

Thank goodness they switched to Geico. :sarcasm:

[Algorem]

29. the pilots live to die another day for the military industrial complex

[sce56]

30. Thankfully it crashed on the GROUND!

I really liked those beaches next to Anderson great snorkeling I'd hate to see that reef destroyed by one of those environmental nightmares!

[Robb]

31. I'd worry more about prevailing winds

Burning composite resin from stealth planes is a very real health hazard. USAF has mishap guidelines for such things, I hope the firefighters are wearing their SCBAs.

[Doctor_J]

33. shit. There goes $2 billion in health care dollars

:eyes:

[bhikkhu]

36. At 2 Billion, that's bigger than the GDP of 32 Nations

Looking at a quick ranking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

I only hope it was some unpredictable mechanical error - no one would want to be the pilot or mechanic waking up every morning with that accident on their conscience.

[SpikeTss]

37. These 2 billion dollars are not important

The White House will close down some schools, cut funding of public services and additionally print some greenbacks and in no time anyone will remember the money lost in this crash.

Most importantly, some extremely rich guys in the industrial military complex will get even richer, which proves that our politicians are doing what they are being paid for.

:puke:

[Thothmes]

39. The Feds cannot close schools

Schools in this counrty are the property of the States and individual juridictions. If schools are closed, it will because the state and local governments will not assume the responsibility to take the steps necessary to keep them open.