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Air Force sticks up for its 'fair-weather' B-2
In this story:
September 12, 1997
- 'This airplane will not melt'
- Heavy rain causes 'discrepancies'
- 'The plane is beyond a white elephant'
Web posted at: 9:57 p.m. EDT (0157 GMT)WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Missouri (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force deployed its much-criticized, high-tech B-2 bombers on their most critical mission to date: countering the perception that they are multibillion-dollar, bat-winged boondoggles.
Smarting from a recent General Accounting Office report which called the B-2 a "fair-weather jet" that can't be based overseas without expensive climate-controlled hangars, the Air Force flew dozens of reporters and cameramen to Missouri for an unprecedented, close-up look at the bombers.
The media were given extraordinary access to the B-2, including a chance to sit in the two-seat cockpit (the power was turned off to hide classified aspects).
CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports.
"We have a capability today that nobody else has," Brig. Gen. Thomas Goslin said. But Goslin and the Air Force also have a public relations problem nobody else has.
Designed to dodge enemy radar, the B-2 is, instead, attracting domestic flak. At stake is not only the plane's public image but a crucial decision in Congress on whether to produce more.
No B-2 has yet been used in combat, and only eight are operational. There are plans to build 13 more, giving the Air Force a fleet of 21 at a cost of $43 billion. A group in Congress wants to build an additional nine at a cost of $20 billion, but the Air Force says it doesn't need them and President Clinton has threatened to veto the legislation.
'This airplane will not melt'
"The public is being led to believe it's not ready to go," said Capt. Jeff Long, a B-2 pilot. Long spoke while standing beneath one of the odd-shaped planes, which with its 178-foot wingspan is as wide as a conventional bomber but with the length of a conventional fighter. "Our whole mission is to go somewhere and not be seen. We're ready to go."
The GAO report said in August that the planes, which can carry either nuclear or conventional bombs, must be "sheltered or exposed only to the most benign environments -- low humidity, no precipitation, moderate temperatures."
So Goslin posed in front of air crews scrubbing off and hosing down one of the planes.
"You can see right back there, right now," Goslin said. "This airplane will not melt under the wash. The plane does just fine."
If it suffers at all, he said, it is from too-high public expectations. "It's like saying, `How come my fifth grade kid can't do calculus?'"
Goslin and others acknowledge, however, that the B-2 has proven more difficult to maintain than expected. It is also taking longer than expected to train maintenance workers.
Heavy rain causes 'discrepancies'
Goslin admitted that several months ago the B-2 had significant maintenance problems with some of the radar-absorbing materials on its surfaces. Those materials give it the ability to evade detection and tracking by enemy forces.
He said a special tape that seals joints and seams on the B-2's surfaces tended to loosen during flight, requiring time-consuming repairs. It happens less frequently now, he said, but the improvement was too recent to have been reflected in the GAO report.
Goslin insisted that rain has no effect on the B-2's stealthiness, but others were less absolute. Brig. Gen. Bruce Carlson, who is in charge of B-2 acquisition in the Pentagon, said heavy rain can cause "discrepancies" that require repair.
Maj. Eric Single, a pilot with more than 450 hours of B-2 flying time, said that even light rain can have an adverse effect on the special surface coatings, although moisture does not make the plane less capable of evading enemy radar.
"This plane has a lot of serious maintenance issues that need to be resolved before it justifies its $2.4 billion price tag," said Tony Capaccio, editor of Defense Week.
'The plane is beyond a white elephant'
"The plane is beyond a white elephant," said Adm. Eugene Carroll of the Center for Defense Information. "It is an anachronism that is being supported and sustained for only one reason: contracts in the districts and states of the members of Congress who want to spend more money on it."
Goslin said that before the end of this year a group of B-2s will be deployed abroad for the first time on a training mission. A key objective, he said, will be to determine whether two weeks of mock combat missions away from its home base will degrade the B-2's radar-evading capabilities.
Lt. Col. Greg Biscone, commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron at Whiteman, said he was disappointed that some think the B-2 is a lemon.
"It's not perfect," he said, "but it's awesome."
Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- B-2 bomber's 'stealth' affected by heat, water, humidity - August 22, 1997
- B-2 grounded by faulty engine part - April 8, 1997
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