B-2 Pilots on Fox (Susteren)

3-26-03 | bellevuesbest

[bellevuesbest]

She just interviewed a couple of our finest pilots from Whiteman. They reported on the first major strike last Friday when the big palace went up in Baghdad. They encountered no problems and brought with them JDAM's and the Bunker Buster. Their flights were only 38 hours.

They were very complimentary of the people that get these planes ready to fly.

[bellevuesbest]

I wish we had more than 20 of them (B-2's).

[Keith in Iowa]

>>Their flights were only 38 hours.

That's Non-stop folks...

[Teetop]

I watched something on TV last week. The crew was saying how they slept on an $8 cot on a billion dollar aircraft, I also found that humorous!

[OOPisforLiberals]

Did you notice Greta practically -swooning- and batting her eyelashes when talking with the pilot on the left? I guess she'd interviewed him previously. Clearly, he made an impression :)

[KarlInOhio]

3 planes, 96 targets hit. Amazing.

[bellevuesbest]

http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/B_2_Spirit.html

[Paleo Conservative]

There are some Republicans who want a at least 40 more copies of a stripped down version for conventional warfare use only. One of the things that makes the current B-2's very expensive is the need for EMP shielding so the plane doesn't fall out of the sky when it drops a nuke. Supposedly Northup could build 40 for about $700 million each.

[bellevuesbest]

JDAM

http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/JDAM.html

[bellevuesbest]

Bunker Buster

http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gbuster/flash.htm

[southland]

Regarding more B-2's at $700m each.
That might be a good deal but in the mean time keep the B-52's in good shape.

[JusPasenThru]

Whoa. Gimme two (sorry, only one per customer).

[Paleo Conservative]

Regarding more B-2's at $700m each. That might be a good deal but in the mean time keep the B-52's in good shape.

The B-52's would still have lots of work available. They should be good till at least 2035 or 2045 if they are re-engined.

[bellevuesbest]

B-52

http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/B_52_Stratofortress.html

When I was a kid, my dad worked at Boeing in Wichita, Kansas and we lived in the flight line (3 miles from the threshold of McConnell AFB) and I watched in awe everyday. That was in the 50's and it will probably still be in use 2050. Less than 100 of the over 700 built are in service. I think they're all B-52H's.

[Saeder]

Supposedly Northup could build 40 for about $700 million each.

B-2's currently run at $1.157 Billion each. Pricing, pretty little things aren't they.

[Paleo Conservative]

'Supposedly Northup could build 40 for about $700 million each.'

B-2's currently run at $1.157 Billion each. Pricing, pretty little things aren't they.

The prices lefties quote are average prices. Remember most of the cost of the program (R & D) was incurred before the first bomber was ever built. The cost of building additional copies is only relevant cost to consider.

[bellevuesbest]

Costs a lot of money to restart a line and remember the $1.157 billion is constant 98 dollars. Not suggesting that it's a bad idea to seriously consider restarting.

Having said that, if we could develop the technology that we have in the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile to take over the role that we have in the JDAM and Bunker Buster, perhaps we don't really need more bombers.

[gcruse]

Did you notice the bit where Greta was talking about the two marines lost in the river? At the end, she said 'We don't know their names or can't release them.'

The guy said, 'We know their names, and the military has released them.'

Then Gteta said, 'Well, I'm not going to.' In other words,
she didn't want to release the names and was ready to palm it off onto the military rather than admit it was her decision. She just lot enough points to put me over onto MSNBC whenever Greta's show is on.

[ysoitanly]

Just looking at those things is awesome. I saw the piece, too - great story.

[rolling_stone]

the cots may cost $8 but the ashtrays are $128 each...

[Paleo Conservative]

I was reading that with 70 500lb JDDAM's a B-2 could pay for itself in about 20 missions compared to using B-52 launched Tomahawks to take out the same targets. Currently the B-2 can carry 16 2,000lb JDAM's. Because many targets don't require a 2,000lb bomb to destroy them, the 500lb JDAM will save costs by reducing the number of missions required to destroy the targets we want to destroy.