KNOB NOSTER, Mo. -- Two decades after its conception as a highly sophisticated stealth bomber, America's B-2 tasted combat for the first time in attacks on Yugoslavia.
Elated Air Force leaders called the debut a success, answering critics who say the B-2 has been a waste of time and billions in taxpayer dollars."I've got to tell you, the crews in these jets performed magnificently," said Brig. Gen. Leroy Barnidge, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at nearby Whiteman Air Force Base. "It says to the critics that this plane did everything it advertised, and then some."
A pair of B-2s took off early Wednesday from Whiteman, flew more than 13 hours with several midair refuelings, struck multiple targets and then headed back to the base about 50 miles east of Kansas City. They were unscathed.
Each bat-winged, radar-evading plane carried 16 one-ton weapons for hits on "hardened" targets, including command bunkers and air-defense systems, according to a senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The satellite-guidance system on the B-2's conventional bombs can direct the explosive to a target without visible contact or a laser-designator.
The senior defense official said the B-2 was selected because of its heavy payload -- by comparison, the F-117 Stealth bomber used Wednesday carry only two bombs -- its ability to attack many targets and its ability to drop weapons accurately at night and in all weather conditions.
With only a pilot and co-pilot aboard, the B-2 also puts fewer crewmen at risk than the B-52, which unleashed cruise missiles from launch points outside Yugoslavia.
"It was particularly heartening to me to see the B-2 kind of graduate and demonstrate its tremendous capability," said Lt. Gen. Ron Marcotte, 8th Air Force commander in charge of the B-2s and a former B-2 pilot.
B-2s can be shot down if they are seen by enemy ground crews or fighter aircraft. Such a development would be seen as a full-blown calamity for the military: The $2 billion bombers used Wednesday together cost almost as much as a Navy aircraft carrier.
This week's missions come more than a decade after the B-2 first rolled out into public view. Built to unleash nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union, the B-2 is the most expensive airplane ever built.
The total cost for a fleet of 21 B-2s is expected to reach $44 billion by the time the last planes are delivered at the end of the year. The bomber is built by Northrop Grumman Corp. near Los Angeles.
Conceived in the 1970s, the B-2 only became operational in 1997 after the Air Force and Northrop dealt with spiraling budgets and emerging technical problems.