It’s hard to fully encapsulate the shock that the public experienced during Northrop Grumman’s initial announcement and display of the B-2 bomber on November 22, 1988. At the time, the B-2 Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force dropped two newly upgraded 5,000-pound GBU-28 bombs for the first time. Air Force, the B-2 flies over Edwards Air Force Base on Augover California. In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Utterly alone, yet unafraid, they flew the two giant bombers into the battle, feet dry in enemy territory. They were ready for the moment, but knew they would need every bit of luck they could get tonight. The four pilots in the two jets began to prep for combat, securing their pistols, donning their survival vests, and rechecking their ejection seats. Bussiere reached forward with his gloved left hand and pushed the “PEN” (penetrate) button on the instrument panel dashboard edge, which automatically configured the jet to maximum stealth mode. “Weapons check complete, let’s go, it’s game time.” The other pilot nodded in agreement. He spoke quietly over the intercom with focused determination. The pilots were surely dead if discovered and tracked down by the enemy air defense network or an enemy MiG-29 fighter.īussiere turned his head away from the stormy night and looked at his fellow warfighter in the left seat of the B-2. The bad news was that by design, they had no defensive weapons of any kind and they didn’t have enough speed to outrun enemy surface-to-air missiles or fighters. The good news was that the two black jets had ultra-secret low-observable stealth technology and a combat load of smart bombs called Joint Directed Attack Munitions (JDAMs). F-117, a fighter that shared similar stealthy qualities as the B-2, in the same airspace. Just 12 days earlier, an enemy surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. “The B-2 was futuristic-and downright sinister.” The B-2 wasn’t invisible to radar or the naked eye-it was just much harder to find and track. For the B-2 pilots, flying at high altitude above the weather and dropping bombs was one thing, but avoiding enemy radar and aircraft was quite another. The weather over Yugoslavia was chaotic, but critical targets had to be hit. This was their third month of round-the-clock operations.Īnd now, a very dangerous mission awaited.įor the first time in history, two B-2 bombers were sent to penetrate enemy airspace in wartime without any Allied support aircraft to help. The B-2 pilots and their maintainers had been told to expect a bombing campaign of two or three nights at the start of the Kosovo War. It had been a long flight to enemy airspace-14 hours nonstop-and an even longer last few months. While contemplating his future (at what altitude remains classified), Bussiere saw flashes of lightning far below, rippling through the massive thunderstorm clouds that filled the entire horizon. On April 8, 1999, Major Tom Bussiere looked out at the ink-black night sky from his mission commander’s seat of the B-2 stealth bomber.
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