page_title: Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit
section_title: Accidents
hierarchical_section_title: Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit / Accidents
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Aufnahme der abgestürzten B-2 auf Guam English: The crashed B-2 at Guam Filipino: Ang nag-crash na B-2 sa Guam Tagalog: Ang nag-crash na B-2 sa Guam
context_page_description: The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses; it is a flying wing design with a crew of two. The bomber can deploy both conventional and thermonuclear weapons, such as up to eighty 500-pound class Mk 82 JDAM Global Positioning System-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400-pound B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only acknowledged aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration.
  Development started under the "Advanced Technology Bomber" project during the Carter administration; its expected performance was one of the President's reasons for the cancellation of the Mach 2 capable B-1A bomber. The ATB project continued during the Reagan administration, but worries about delays in its introduction led to the reinstatement of the B-1 program. Program costs rose throughout development. Designed and manufactured by Northrop, later Northrop Grumman, the cost of each aircraft averaged US$737 million.
context_section_description: On 23 February 2008, B-2 "AV-12" Spirit of Kansas crashed on the runway shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Spirit of Kansas had been operated by the 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and had logged 5,176 flight hours. The two person crew ejected safely from the aircraft and survived the crash. The aircraft was destroyed, a hull loss valued at US$1.4 billion. After the accident, the Air Force took the B-2 fleet off operational status until clearing the fleet for flight status 53 days later on 15 April 2008. The cause of the crash was later determined to be moisture in the aircraft's Port Transducer Units during air data calibration, which distorted the information being sent to the bomber's air data system. As a result, the flight control computers calculated an inaccurate airspeed, and a negative angle of attack, causing the aircraft to pitch upward 30 degrees during takeoff. This was the first crash of a B-2 and the only loss as of 2020.
  In February 2010, another serious incident involving a B-2 occurred at Andersen Air Force Base. The aircraft involved was AV-11 Spirit of Washington. The aircraft was severely damaged by fire while on the ground and underwent 18 months of repairs in order to enable it to fly back to the mainland for more comprehensive repairs. Spirit of Washington was repaired and returned to service in December 2013. At the time of the accident the USAF had no training to deal with tailpipe fires on the B-2s.
caption: Wreckage of the 2008 B-2 crash
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