[Blueflag]

The aircraft is not a hangar queen in the classic sense -- where any/all of the avionics, hydraulics, powerplant, electronics are down. It really gets down to optimizing the 'sortie maintenance' procedures. The USAF is doing that/ working on that.

The guys that work on the B-2 KNOW it is an honor to do so, and they bust their butts on every detail, including readiness.

While this article is factual, I think it slams the B-2 too harshly. The B-2 is incredibly effective leading edge technology. We've got some learning to do still.

[TalonDJ]

The B-2 is incredibly effective leading edge technology. We've got some learning to do still.

Yeah. It is valuable operation experience for a technology that is far beyond what anyone else has fielded. Future systems will benifi from it.

[Miss Behave]

"While this article is factual, I think it slams the B-2 too harshly. The B-2 is incredibly effective leading edge technology. We've got some learning to do still."

I agree, Blueflag.

Ping to you, Aeronaut.

[jettester]

To clarify your position further, a true "hangar queen" is a bird that notoriously spends numerous hours being repaired to be able to fly. In this case, the B-2 requires a ton of maintenance that is primarily preventative in nature as opposed to reactionary where something is broken and needs to be repaired.

The maintenance levels are designed into the aircraft through the contract, development work, ground and flight testing and then feedback from real world experience. It would be interesting to find out how the bird is performing against specification in the area of maintenance required.