Stealth Bomber Makes 1st Flight : Air Force Pleased by 2-Hour Test, but Cost Doubts Are Not Erased
In a noisy display of power and high technology, a B-2 stealth bomber roared down a Palmdale runway early Monday and lifted smoothly into the sky for the first time, erasing doubts about the aircraft’s ability to fly but perhaps not about the program’s $70-billion cost.
The slate-gray nuclear bomber, which is designed to elude enemy radar with its complex shape and plastic surface, began its long-delayed maiden flight at 6:37 a.m. and landed safely two hours later at Edwards Air Force Base, about 25 miles north of where it started.
“This is a historic day in aviation,” Air Force Gen. Bernard P. Randolph, head of Air Force procurement and research, asserted after the successful test. “We’re extremely pleased with the performance today.”
Close Scrutiny
The test is under close political scrutiny. Just last week, a Senate panel voted to withhold additional funding for the B-2 until its first series of tests is completed. The first block of tests, which began with runway tests early last week, is to end in December.
At $530 million each, the B-2 is the most expensive weapon ever developed but has been staunchly defended by the Air Force as a good value because it “basically negates the air defenses that have been built up around the world,” Randolph said.
The stealth capabilities were not tested Monday. Instead, the Air Force installed special devices on the aircraft to make it more observable to radar and limited the flight test to the B-2’s basic handling.
Under a brilliant Mojave Desert sun, the aircraft was flown up to a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet and at an air speed that never exceeded 207 m.p.h. The bomber was accompanied on its flight by two F-16 jet fighters painted red and white, a routine procedure in many test flights.
The initial flight test of the B-2, built by Northrop Corp., was originally scheduled for 18 months ago but was repeatedly delayed by technical problems, funding shortfalls and design changes ordered by the Air Force. The delays contributed to significant growth in the B-2’s cost, which was hidden from the public by strict military secrecy imposed on the program. After committing $23 billion to the program, Congress is now expressing skepticism.
Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the flight “a giant leap for Northrop, but one small step for the B-2 program.”
Aspin, who complained last week that lawmakers are wary of the program’s $8-billion annual payments, said, “The stealth has just cleared one hurdle . . . and still has another hurdle to clear--the checkbook hurdle. The issue is whether it’s worth the price.”
Others were even more pessimistic.
“Right now, I would say it’s an uphill fight for the B-2,” said Democratic House Speaker Thomas S. Foley of Washington.
He said he had reservations about the cost in relation to other needs, but he would not predict the outcome.
But in Palmdale on Monday, enthusiasm was running high, regardless of the cost, and the Air Force wanted to make the most of a good day. As the plane took off, the “Star Spangled Banner” was sung on the runway by Alis Clausen of a local cable television station. Air Force Capt. Tess Taft unfurled a U.S. flag.
Throngs of enthusiasts, who arrived before dawn to take up positions along roads next to to the airfield, created a small traffic jam in Palmdale after the flight. About 200 reporters, photographers and broadcasters covered the flight. Three Air Force generals and the top executives of Northrop were on hand.
The bomber was flown by Northrop chief test pilot Bruce J. Hinds and Air Force test pilot Col. Richard S. Couch as their wives looked on from a dusty tract of desert near the runway at Air Force Plant 42.
“He really didn’t want me to come, but needless to say that didn’t happen,” said Ann Couch, the Air Force pilot’s wife. “He acted very calm this morning. I am the one who is very excited.”
Officially, the first B-2 flight was classified by an Air Force safety board as “high risk.” The flight plan was reviewed by a safety board made up of top officers, including Brig. Gen. Richard M. Schofield, the program manager.
But Hinds’ wife, Pat, remarked, “Bruce didn’t consider it risky.”
Pat Hinds said that because of the top secrecy imposed on the program, her husband never told her that he was going to fly the B-2 on its first flight.
“It was something he never talked to me about,” she said. “I don’t think he ever did. I just picked up on it after reading the papers.”
Hinds, who commanded the flight, said during a news conference afterward that the bomber handled just as predicted by computer models and wind tunnel tests. Hinds has spent 1,800 hours in B-2 simulators over the last seven years preparing for Monday’s flight, a training regimen that rivals that of astronauts.
“If we appear giggly about all of this, it was kind of fun,” Couch said.
The two pilots said the aircraft was nimble, very smooth and “user friendly.”
“We were fairly busy throughout the takeoff roll,” Couch said, “so we really didn’t have time to worry much about whether it was going to come off the ground, and it just smoothly came off the ground. We hardly even knew it.”
The pilots put the aircraft through a series of wide turns as it approached its landing at Edwards, the aircraft’s knife-edge-thin profile disappearing in the bright sunlight and then reappearing as the top of its wing surface came into view. It descended on a gentle slope to a smooth landing, puffs of smoke emerging as the tires made contact with the concrete runway at Edwards.
Air Force officials said the flying wing configuration, which was originated four decades ago by Northrop founder Jack Northrop, is the most efficient aerodynamic form known. The B-2 is said to be twice as efficient as the Rockwell International B-1 bomber, as measured by the so-called lift-to-drag ratio.
Northrop officials were jubilant about the successful flight and hopeful that it would silence critics.
“It proves that we have an airplane that absolutely matches its forecast performance in the simulator,” Northrop spokesman Les Daly said. “It proves a lot about the design integrity. It disproves a lot of the critics who were so quick to jump.”
But those critics, notably those in Congress, have not yet been won over.
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who last week warned that success in the bomber’s first flight would be critical, called Monday’s flight “good news.”
But he added, “This is only the first of many tests that must be successfully passed by the B-2 in order to demonstrate that the promise of its revolutionary technologies (have) been fully met.
“Until we have accumulated much more flight testing experience, it is important that we continue to keep B-2 production at a low but sustaining rate as is recommended in our . . . bill.”
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was “very proud as an American with this accomplishment coming 20 years after man landed on the moon.”
“My God . . . it can fly. What next, a $100-billion Batmobile?” Democratic Rep. James Traficant Jr. of Ohio said sarcastically.
“One flight does not a blank check get,” Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), a stealth critic, told reporters.
Randolph, the Air Force general, asked to answer such criticism, said Monday, “I know the sticker shock. There is no doubt this is expensive, but you need to think in terms of value, value to the American public and value to the deterrent posture.”
But even conservatives expressed doubt.
“I think there’s a great deal of reluctance to spend that much money per airplane,” said Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the No. 2 Republican leader in the House. “The President and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney will have to work hard to carry a vote in the House.”
“I’m not surprised with the fact that the stealth was able to lift off, fly and land properly,” said Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio), who wants to mothball the program after the 13th bomber is built. “For $23 billion, if the plane couldn’t taxi, fly and land it would be a very, very bad sign for the U.S. aerospace industry.”
Times staff writer Melissa Healy in Washington contributed to this article.
