A very Happy Birthday the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber today. On 17 July 1989, the B-2 Spirit took to the skies for the first time. The flight took off from Palmdale Plant 42 and landed at Edwards Air Force Base. The bomber was flown by B-2 Test Pilot Bruce Hinds and the B-2 Test Force Commander Col. Richard Couch. The first flight was a little over 2 hours. The entire flight was flown with gear down.
Here is the B-2 Spirit by the numbers:
36
Number of years that the B-2 has been flying. The B-2 first took to the skies on 17 July 1989 for a test flight.
$2,100,000,000 ($4.17B in 2024 Dollars)
Total program cost per aircraft. This number includes development, testing, engineering, and production.
336,500
Max takeoff weight of the B-2 Spirit Bomber in pounds.
21
Total number of bombers built (20 active, 1 test).
13
The wingspan of the B-2 is 20 feet longer than the Boeing 767 passenger jet (172 feet (B-2) vs. 152 feet (767)).
50,000+
The B-2’s combat ceiling.
20
A B-2 can carry a payload of 20 tons.
4
Total number of major incidents.
23 February 2008: B-2 Spirit of Kansas crashed at Guam due to condensation in the aircraft’s Port Transducer Unit causing the air data computer to receive incorrect airspeed information.
February 2010: B-2 Spirit of Washington suffered severe fire damage at Guam. It took over 2 years to repair the aircraft which is now back in service.
13-14 September 2021: B-2 Spirit of Georgia made an emergency landing at Whiteman AFB, veering off the runway due to worn landing gear springs and hydraulic microcracks that caused the gear to collapse. Initial repair costs were estimated at $10.1 million.
10 December 2022: A B-2 experienced an in-flight malfunction and made an emergency landing at Whiteman AFB. No one was injured, but a brief fire occurred. All B-2s were grounded until May 2023, when the grounding was lifted without explanation. In May 2024, the Air Force announced plans to retire the B-2, calling repairs uneconomical.
1999
The year the B-2 made its combat debut during Operation Allied Force. Two B-2s took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, flew over 31 hours to Kosovo, struck multiple targets, and then turned around and flew straight home. Even though the B-2 flew less than 1% of all missions during the first eight weeks, it was responsible for taking out a staggering 33% of the targets.
44
The number of hours it took to complete the longest air combat mission in world history. In 2001, six B-2s, including the Spirit of America, were first into Afghan airspace on a 44-hour mission. One even made a quick 45-minute pit stop—engines running—before flying another 30 hours back to Missouri. That’s over 70 hours in the air, nearly nonstop. The next longest mission was during Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 at 36 consecutive hours.
36
The percentage of the B-2 fleet deployed as part of Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025.
80
Number of Mk-82 bombs that can be carried internally by the B-2 bomber.
.1
Estimated radar cross-section (RCS) of the B-2 Bomber in m^2. By comparison, a B-52 is estimated to have a RCS of 100 m^2.
The actual maximum bomb load of the B-2 is 40 Tons, not 20 Tons, because the B-2s that bombed Iran were carry two GBU-57 MOPPs, apiece, and the two bombs each weigh in at 15 Tons, and two.of them have a combined weight of 30 Tons.