April
28, 2006: Only about
seven of the U.S. Air Force's 21 B-2 bombers are ready to go at any
time, and now, a combination of robots, sprayers and quality control are
trying to double the readiness rate. But for a long time, the B-2 has
been known as a "Hanger Queen" (an aircraft that spends too much time in
the hanger for maintenance or repairs). Two years ago, the U.S. Air Force introduced the use of robots to reduce the maintenance efforts required to keep their B-2 bombers flying. The B-2 uses a stealth (anti-radar) system that depends a lot on a smooth outer skin.
That, in turn, requires that the usual access panels and such on the B-2 must be covered with tape and special paste to make it all smooth. And after every flight, a lot of this tape and paste has to be touched up, either because of the result of flying, or because access panels had to be opened.
All this takes at lot of time, being one of the main reasons the B-2 required 25 man hours of maintenance for each hour in the air.
HAGATNA,
Guam (Marianas Variety, May 3) – More than 250 personnel and
several B-2 bomber aircraft from the 509th Bomb Wing based in
Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, were deployed to [Guam's]
Andersen Air Force Base over the weekend. The 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron airmen are replacing those from the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron who fly B-1B bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.
The B-1 bomber units have been on Guam since January.
According to the Air Force public affairs office, the deployment is in support of U.S. Pacific Command -(USPACOM) directed continuous bomber rotations aimed at adjusting the military’s force posture to enhance regional security.
