A B-2 stealth bomber's emergency landing sparked a fire and damaged the plane, but the crew walked away unharmed
US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Bryson Britt
- A B-2 stealth bomber was damaged after making an emergency landing at a Missouri base on Saturday.
- The bomber experienced an "in-flight malfunction during routine operations," an official told Insider.
- Neither of the two crewmembers suffered any injuries, the 509th Bomb Wing spokesperson said.
A US Air Force stealth bomber was damaged on the runway after it was forced to make an emergency landing at a Missouri base over the weekend, but the bomber's crew did not suffer any injuries, an official confirmed
The "B-2 Spirit experienced an in-flight malfunction during routine operations Dec. 10 and was damaged on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base after it successfully completed an emergency landing," a 509th Bomb Wing spokesperson told Insider in an email on Monday.
"There was a fire associated with the aircraft after landing, and the base fire department extinguished the fire," the official added, noting that "there were no personnel injuries." The aircraft has just two pilots, both of whom walked away unscathed.
Officials did not immediately release any additional information about the extent of the damage to the bomber, nor did they comment on what specifically caused both the emergency landing and the ensuing fire. The incident is currently under investigation.
Saturday's incident is the second time in the last 15 months that a B-2 aircraft has experienced an emergency at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, home to the 509th Bomb Wing and a fleet of B-2 bombers built to penetrate enemy air defenses and deliver both conventional and nuclear strikes.
On September 14, 2021 the left main landing gear collapsed on a B-2 bomber while it was landing, causing it to skid off the runway and rack up an estimated repair cost of over $10 million.
The latest crash comes almost two weeks after the Air Force publicly unveiled its first new stealth bomber in decades, the B-21 Raider, at a facility in Palmdale, California earlier in this month. The sleek, sixth-generation aircraft looks similar to its flying-wing predecessor, the heavy B-2 Spirit bomber which first took flight in 1989, and is intended to play a critical role in the country's bomber fleet.
Aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman calls the new B-21 the "most advanced military aircraft ever built ."