Airmen keep B-2 Spirits safe

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Val Gempis
  • Air Force Print News
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam --  The B-2 Spirit bomber’s capabilities to penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most heavily defended targets depend on Airmen who help maintain the aircraft’s stealth characteristic.

Mechanics deployed from the 509th Maintenance Squadron’s low observable section apply sheets and strips of radar-absorbent coating on the jet. The majority of the Airmen are aircraft sheet metal technicians who said they did not know what to expect when they first arrived at the unit’s home station of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

“I was ready to put my metals technology skills to test. I was eager to fabricate, pound, bend and weld metals,” said Senior Airman Bruce Vaughn, who was fresh from technical school when he reported to Whiteman two years ago.

Airman Vaughn said he was really impressed by the size of the bomber when he first caught a glimpse of it inside a hangar. It was huge and intimidating, he said. But he was also surprised to discover that the aircraft is made of composite materials. Composite materials are strong lightweight fibers bonded together chemically which reduce the overall weight of the aircraft. They also help to make the B-2 difficult to detect, track and engage.

“I quickly learned that almost everything I learned in tech school didn’t apply to the B-2,” Airman Vaughn said.

The sheet metal specialist had to learn a new set of skills to qualify as a low observable technician. It takes years to understand the jet, he said. Maintaining and repairing the LO capabilities of the B-2 is a slow, lengthy and difficult process.

“You just don’t pop rivets and fly here. This aircraft has to be maintained in a near-pristine state,” said Staff Sgt. Jody Arbogast, another LO technician.

After a stealth aircraft flies, maintainers must perform safety inspections and weekly assessments. They repair tiny dings and scratches that increase the planes radar signature, the Airman said. The B-2 uses an anti-radar system that depends on a smooth outer skin. That, in turn, requires that the usual access panels must be covered with tape and special paste to make it smooth.

“After every flight, the aircraft has to be touched up. We spend a lot of hours examining it to make sure it's fit for stealth missions,” Sergeant Arbogast said.

“It’s a very process-oriented job. You have to follow instructions completely step by step,” said Staff Sgt. Nathan Keith, another LO technician.

Unlike when using sheet metal, where tolerances are more forgiving, here the gaps have to be almost perfect.

“If mistakes are made during repair, we have to start all over from the beginning,” Sergeant Keith said.

But staying longer hours is not their main worry. Their No. 1 priority, they said, is ensuring that the pilots and the aircraft return safely.

Unlike B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress bombers that have active defensive countermeasures like flares and chaff, the Spirit’s only defense is its stealth characteristics. Squadron Airmen said they have to be more critical when working on the jet to ensure it is picture perfect.

“Our pilots’ lives depend on how well we do our job. There’s no room for mistakes,” said Staff Sgt. Jeff Schroeder, LO quality assurance supervisor.

LO technicians are some of the most dedicated and motivated troops in the Air Force, said Master Sgt. Troy Foote, a former LO technician and now a support engineer, from the 327th Combat System Sustainment Group at Tinker AFB, Okla.

“What they do is not like fixing a pot hole,” he said. “They just don’t shove dirt into it and not worry about doing it again next year.”

They have to change aircraft paints, coatings, tapes and other radar-absorbing materials over and over again every day. It is hard work, he said.

The technicians said although at first it was not easy to learn this new trade, being an LO troop is very rewarding work. They said that even though they do not hear much about the result of their efforts because of the sensitive nature of their work, they are aware of the global effect of their mission.

“We just don’t fly training missions here. Every day is a new experience, a new challenge,” Sergeant Schroeder said.