Every B-2 long-range mission needs aerial refuelling. The boom operators who connect a nozzle to a flying wing at night over the ocean are doing one of aviation's hardest jobs. Here is their story.

Every B-2 mission that has ever flown more than a few hundred miles from Missouri has depended on aerial refuelling. On a 44-hour mission to Afghanistan or a 25-hour mission to Libya, the B-2 takes on fuel multiple times from KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10 Extenders.

KC-135 tanker crews who make every B-2 bomber mission possible and who nobody ever writes about

The Spirit of Kansas was destroyed in 2008. The name went with it. Here is the story of the B-2 naming tradition, what the names mean to crews, and the 29 states that never got a Spirit.

Each of the 21 B-2 Spirits ever built was assigned a name: Spirit of Missouri, Spirit of California, Spirit of Texas — one for each of the 50 states, with the naming stopped at 21 when Congress cut the programme. Every naming was a ceremony.&nbsp;

Every B-2 bomber is named after a US state! Here is why

The APQ-181 synthetic aperture radar on the B-2 sees through cloud, rain and darkness. Its specific modes are classified. Here is what open sources reveal about the sensor inside the world's stealthiest bomber.

The B-2 Spirit carries one of the most capable airborne radar systems ever built and almost nothing about it is publicly known. The APQ-181 is a synthetic aperture radar that can generate detailed ground maps through cloud cover, rain, and total darkness.&nbsp;

B-2 has a classified radar that can see through clouds, darkness and walls! Here is what little the public actually knows

The B-2 Spirit has a 172-foot wingspan — wider than a 737 fuselage is long. It weighs 153 tonnes. On radar it looks like a seagull. Here is the scale of a plane nobody ever really describes.

The B-2 Spirit has a wingspan of 172 feet — wider than the fuselage of a Boeing 737 is long. It weighs up to 336,500 pounds fully loaded. It is one of the largest aircraft in the world. And yet on most radar systems, it produces a return roughly equivalent to a large seagull. The contrast between the B-2's physical reality and its electromagnetic reality is one of the most extraordinary engineering achievements of the 20th century — and almost nobody who writes about it actually describes what the aircraft looks like in person.

Why B-2 bomber shows up on radar as a bird even being 172 feet wide?

The B-2 needs 50-80 maintenance hours for every hour it flies. Coating specialists, climate crews, nuclear weapons loaders. Here is the invisible workforce that keeps the world's rarest bomber airborne.

The B-2 Spirit has the highest maintenance burden of any operational aircraft in the US military. For every hour it spends in the air, it spends dozens of hours on the ground being inspected, repaired, tested, and prepared.&nbsp;

It takes 60 people to keep one B-2 flying! Who they are and what they do?

The B-2's core computers use Reagan-era architecture and Ada programming. Updating them triggers complete recertification. Here is why the Air Force keeps flying 40-year-old software on its most advanced bomber.

The B-2 Spirit was designed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its core mission computer architecture, its avionics software frameworks, and several of its fundamental systems were written in programming languages and on hardware platforms that are now decades obsolete. Updating them is not a matter of installing new software. It means recertifying every system that touches them, rewriting millions of lines of code, and retesting the entire aircraft from scratch — a process so expensive that the Air Force has repeatedly chosen to maintain legacy systems rather than modernise them.

Why B-2 bomber's core computers still run on 1980s software?

The B-2 often appears in the sky before its sound arrives. Its engines are buried, its exhaust is mixed and cooled, its wing blocks noise. Here is how a 153-tonne bomber became nearly silent.

&nbsp;military aircraft are heard before they are seen. The B-2 Spirit inverts this. Witnesses at airshows and near Whiteman Air Force Base consistently describe the same experience: the aircraft appears in the sky, often before the sound catches up.

Why B-2 is almost silent on ground? Here is the engineering that makes a 153-tonne aircraft hard to hear

A downed B-2 is two problems: rescue the crew and prevent the stealth technology from falling into enemy hands. Here is the plan for the world's most sensitive aircraft going down in hostile territory.

Every combat aircraft has a crew rescue plan. The B-2 Spirit has two problems that make its plan uniquely complicated: the crew, and the wreckage. Recovering two pilots from inside enemy-controlled territory is hard enough. The B-2 also carries classified stealth materials, classified avionics, classified weapons systems, and classified mission data that the United States cannot allow an adversary to examine. The rescue of a downed B-2 crew is an operational challenge. What happens to the aircraft itself is a strategic one.

What happens if a B-2 goes down over enemy territory? The rescue plan for the world's most sensitive aircraft

The B-2 Spirit is flown by roughly 100 pilots worldwide. You can't apply — you're selected. Here is the decade-long pipeline, the requirements, and what disqualifies even exceptional pilots.

No other combat aircraft has a smaller pilot community. Getting there requires a decade of flying, multiple aircraft type qualifications, and a selection process that eliminates experienced pilots who would be considered exceptional in any other cockpit.&nbsp;

There are only about 100 B-2 pilots on Earth! Here is what it actually takes to become one of them

Every B-2 Spirit lives at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Russia, China, and Iran all know this. Here is why the US put all its stealth bombers in one place — and what happens if that base is threatened.

All 20 B-2 Spirit bombers in the US Air Force are based at a single location: Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. There is no second base, no dispersal plan for peacetime, no rotation between facilities. Every intelligence agency in the world knows that if you want to find America's entire stealth bomber fleet, you look at one spot on the map. Here is why the US made this decision — and what the plan is if that base ever comes under threat.

Every adversary knows exactly where all 20 B-2s are right now! So why don't they attack?

When a B-2 flies a 44-hour mission, two pilots are locked in a cockpit the size of an SUV for the entire duration. No relief crew, one fold-down cot, a chemical toilet. Here's the human reality.

When a B-2 Spirit flies its signature ultra-long missions — 30, 40, even 44 hours from Missouri to a target and back — two people are locked inside a cockpit the size of a large SUV for the entire duration.&nbsp;

'44 hours in a cockpit with no room to stand': What two B-2 pilots actually do on the world's longest combat mission

On October 7 2001, B-2s flew 44 hours from Missouri to Afghanistan and back. Two pilots, no relief, multiple refuellings. It remains the longest combat bombing mission ever flown.

On October 7, 2001, the night the US began its military campaign in Afghanistan, B-2 Spirit bombers took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, and flew 44 hours round trip to deliver their weapons. Two pilots. No break. Multiple aerial refuellings over the Atlantic, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean. It remains the longest combat bombing mission ever flown.

44 hours from Missouri to bomb Afghanistan and back! B-2 bombers longest combat mission in aviation history

Stealth is not invisibility. Here is how radar works, why the B-2's flying-wing shape defeats it, what radar-absorbing coating does, and what 'low observable' really means.

The B-2 Spirit is described as ‘stealthy’ in almost every news report about it — but almost no news report explains what that actually means. It is not invisibility. It is not a cloaking device. It is the result of very specific engineering decisions about shape, material, and electronics. Here is how radar works, why the B-2 defeats it, and what ‘low observable’ really means in plain language.

How does stealth actually work? The physics of B-2 bomber that radar simply cannot see

In 2008, a B-2 crashed on takeoff in Guam. $1.4 billion destroyed. The production line is closed. Congress never funded a replacement. The US is stuck with 20 B-2s — and that will never change.

On February 23, 2008, a B-2 Spirit crashed on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam during takeoff. It was the first combat loss of a B-2 in the aircraft's history. Both crew members ejected safely. The aircraft — worth $1.4 billion — was destroyed. The US Air Force went from 21 B-2s to 20. Congress has never funded replacements. There will never be 21 again.

Why only 21 B-2 bombers were built?

The B-2's stealth depends on a moisture-sensitive radar-absorbing coating. Rain degrades it. Humidity damages it. Here is why the world's most expensive bomber cannot park outside.

The B-2 Spirit's stealth capability depends on a radar-absorbing coating applied to every surface of the aircraft. That coating is sensitive to moisture, heat, and humidity. Rain damages it. Tropical air degrades it. The B-2 cannot be parked outside overnight in most climates. Every base that operates it requires a specialised climate-controlled hangar — and that requirement has shaped every deployment decision the aircraft has ever been part of.

Why B-2 bomber cannot get wet? Here is how rain can destroy a $2 billion machine

The B-2 is the most expensive aircraft ever built at $2.1 billion each. Only 21 exist. Here is why it costs so much, what it can do, and whether the investment made sense.

The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber costs $2.1 billion per aircraft. Only 21 were ever built. The US Air Force operates 20 of them today. For context, the entire GDP of several small nations is less than the price of a single B-2. Here is what that money actually bought, why it cost so much, and whether the investment made strategic sense.

'$2.1 billion for one plane': Why US built B-2 bomber and was it worth it?

The B-2 can't park outside anywhere in the world. Portable climate-controlled hangars must be pre-built at every base it deploys to. Here is the extraordinary logistics of housing the world's most expensive aircraft.

The B-2 Spirit cannot park outside. Its radar-absorbing skin requires climate-controlled storage after every flight. There is only one permanent B-2 base in the world — Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. When the aircraft deploys anywhere else on earth, a specialised portable shelter system must be pre-built and waiting. Here is the extraordinary logistical operation required just to house the world's most expensive aircraft.

'$50 million bed': Where does a $2 billion B-2 Bomber sleep?

The B-2 is a pure flying wing with no tail, no rudder, no stabiliser. Computers make 40 corrections per second to keep it airborne. Pilots call it flying a giant frisbee. Here is why it works.

Every conventional aircraft has a vertical tail. The B-2 Spirit does not. No rudder, no vertical stabiliser, no horizontal tailplane. The aircraft is a pure flying wing — a shape that conventional aerodynamics says should be unstable and uncontrollable. It stays in the air because computers make 40 corrections per second that no human pilot could manage. Pilots who fly it describe the experience as unlike anything else in aviation.

Why B-2 bomber has no tail?

re zones. Today they can hit a specific room. Here is how bombing accuracy evolved from area destruction to GPS precision over seven decades.

In Vietnam, B-52s dropped bombs in patterns that obliterated everything within a football-field-sized area. Today, the same aircraft can drop a weapon from the same altitude and hit a specific room in a specific building. Here is how bombing accuracy changed across seven decades — and what made the transformation possible.

How does a B-52 hit a single building from 50,000 feet? The evolution from carpet bombing to GPS precision

The B-21 Raider is stealthy and new. The B-52 is 70 years old and visible to radar. The US Air Force is flying both — because each does something the other can't. Here is what that means.

The B-21 Raider is America's newest bomber — stealthy, modern, and designed for the most contested airspace on earth. The B-52 is from 1952, visible to radar, and older than most living pilots. The US Air Force is flying both simultaneously and has no plans to retire the B-52 until 2050. Here is what each one does that the other cannot.

America has a brand new stealth bomber called B-21. So why is it still flying the 70-year-old B-52?

The B-52 carries nuclear bombs, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, anti-ship missiles, and bunker busters — all on one airframe. Here is what each weapon does and why the flexibility is the point.

The B-52 can carry up to 70,000 pounds of weapons in a single mission. That payload can include nuclear gravity bombs, long-range cruise missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles, anti-ship missiles, precision-guided bunker busters, and conventional carpet-bombing munitions. Here is what each weapon does and why the B-52's ability to carry all of them is its most important feature.

From H-bombs to hypersonic missiles: What weapons a B-52 can actually carry?

United States President Donald Trump took the old Air Force One instead of the newly retrofitted Qatari-gifted plane on Thursday (July 9) to fly out of Turkey after the NATO summit as a precaution and escalating tensions with Iran, according to an ABC News report that cited sources familiar with the plans.&nbsp;Earlier on Wednesday the Qatari-gifted plane left the NATO summit in Turkey for Mildenhall Air Force Base in England without Trump, who claimed that the move was for members of the military to tour the aircraft and had nothing to do with security concerns.&nbsp;On the other hand when asked by reporters if security concerns caused the change in flight plans, Trump said he's "No. 1 on the kill list for Iran."&nbsp;The change in plans was not largely prompted by a specific threat, but had to do with the plane's security capabilities, two US officials told ABC News.&nbsp;When Trump left Turkey in the old Air Force One for England to link up with the new Qatari plane, passengers on the aircraft were instructed to keep their windows down during the flight. The plane also refrained from keeping its tracker on until it was over the Black Sea near Istanbul.<h2>Qatari-gifted Air Force One</h2>&nbsp;The retrofitted Boeing gifted to US by Qatar has come in to replace the ageing Boeing jets that have served as Air Force One for the last 36 years. Also there is a huge delay in the delivery of two new aircrafts ordered by US.&nbsp;Though very high-tech and equipped with the state of the art facilities, the new plane lacks some of the security measures. According to the Associated Press the plane misses some of the missile detection and countermeasure systems used by the outgoing Cold War-era jets.&nbsp;However the Air Force said the conversion of the jet was done “without accepting any risk regarding security, safety, or secure communications.”

When US President Donald Trump left Turkey in the old Air Force One for England to link up with the new Qatari plane, passengers on the aircraft were instructed to keep their windows down.

United States President Donald Trump took the old Air Force One instead of the newly retrofitted Qatari-gifted plane on Thursday (July 9) to fly out of Turkey after the NATO summit as a precaution and escalating tensions with Iran, according to an ABC News report that cited sources familiar with the plans. Earlier on Wednesday the Qatari-gifted plane left the NATO summit in Turkey for Mildenhall Air Force Base in England without Trump, who claimed that the move was for members of the military to tour the aircraft and had nothing to do with security concerns. On the other hand when asked by reporters if security concerns caused the change in flight plans, Trump said he's "No. 1 on the kill list for Iran." The change in plans was not largely prompted by a specific threat, but had to do with the plane's security capabilities, two US officials told ABC News. When Trump left Turkey in the old Air Force One for England to link up with the new Qatari plane, passengers on the aircraft were instructed to keep their windows down during the flight. The plane also refrained from keeping its tracker on until it was over the Black Sea near Istanbul. Qatari-gifted Air Force One The retrofitted Boeing gifted to US by Qatar has come in to replace the ageing Boeing jets that have served as Air Force One for the last 36 years. Also there is a huge delay in the delivery of two new aircrafts ordered by US. Though very high-tech and equipped with the state of the art facilities, the new plane lacks some of the security measures. According to the Associated Press the plane misses some of the missile detection and countermeasure systems used by the outgoing Cold War-era jets. However the Air Force said the conversion of the jet was done “without accepting any risk regarding security, safety, or secure communications.”

When US President Donald Trump left Turkey in the old Air Force One for England to link up with the new Qatari plane, passengers on the aircraft were instructed to keep their windows down.

Trump departed Turkey on old Air Force One on insistence of Secret Service for 'security concerns': Report