Stealth Bomber Taxis on Its Own Power for 1st Time

The controversial B-2 stealth bomber taxied under its own power for the first time Monday and zoomed along a Palmdale runway at about 100 m.p.h. at one point, an Air Force spokeswoman said.

The radar-evading aircraft, built by Northrop Corp., taxied on a runway at the Air Force’s Plant 42 for about an hour and a half in the first set of ground tests leading to the $530-million aircraft’s maiden flight. That will occur sometime in the next two weeks.

The long-delayed test gave the public its first glimpse since last November of the black flying wing, which has drawn congressional criticism of both its usefulness and its cost. The planned 132 planes will cost an estimated $70 billion.

But the controversy did not dampen the enthusiasm of onlookers Monday as the B-2 was towed from its hangar shortly after dawn, then fired up its four General Electric-made jet engines for the first time outdoors at about 6:30 a.m., Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Tess Taft said.

After about half an hour, pilots Bruce J. Hinds of Northrop and Col. Richard S. Couch of the Air Force turned the aircraft around and began taxiing it back and forth in a series of low-speed tests.

As the morning’s brisk winds died down, the bomber moved as fast as 90 knots and as far as 12,000 feet at a time, Taft said.

At one point, the super-secret plane was visible from busy Sierra Highway, where rush-hour commuters got a glimpse of the bomber, which is designed to carry nuclear weapons deep into enemy territory and evade detection by radar.

After the plane was towed back to its hangar, Taft reported, Gen. Richard Scofield, director of the B-2 System Program Office, said the test had gone well and added that it would take Air Force officials a couple of days to evaluate the results before a second trial run is scheduled.

Before the bomber’s first flight, it will undergo more low-speed and high-speed taxi tests, Taft said.