U.S. B-2 Bomber Damaged during Emergency Landing following Malfunction

A B-2A Spirit stealth bomber on a routine flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Whiteman AFB in Missouri.

The Air Force said the bomber experienced an in-flight malfunction on December 10 requiring an emergency landing that sparked fire and damaged the aircraft. The base fire department extinguished the blaze.

As per multiple reports, there were no personnel injuries, but the incident did cause damage to Runway 1/19 which will remain closed until December 16.

WAFB is where the fleet of just 20 B-2s in existence is primarily based, of which roughly half of it are operational at any given time.

In September 2021, a somewhat similar event left a B-2 wing down into the dirt, after it skidded off the runway during an emergency landing. It was patched-up and flown to Plant 42 in Palmdale, California for extensive repairs after a year on the ground at Whiteman AFB.

On December 2, the Air Force publicly unveiled the B-21 Raider, the first new, long-range strike bomber in a generation and an aircraft specifically designed to be the multifunctional backbone of the modernized bomber fleet. The Raider will replace aging B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers now in service.