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B-2 visits Tinker’s Spirit support team

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  • By Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  If you looked at the skies over Tinker AFB Sept. 16, it would have been hard to miss the 172 foot tip-to-tip wingspan of the nation's premier B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber.

The "Spirit of Arizona" (each B-2 aircraft is named after a state) visited Oklahoma, offering those who support the B-2 a chance to see the end results of their work up close.

The B-2 Program Office Sustainment Branch, led by Lt. Col. Eric Reagan, hosted the aircraft, which hailed from Whiteman AFB, Mo.

The extraordinary act of appreciation on behalf of the 509th and 131st Bomb Wings demonstrates the healthy partnership between the B-2 program and the warfighter.

Members of the B-2 Program Offices at Tinker and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and contractors from Northrop Grumman work to keep the most capable bomber aircraft in history flying missions around the world. 

"Our team has worked incredibly hard to make dramatic improvements to the way we sustain and modernize the fleet," said Colonel Reagan. "We saw this as a great opportunity to let them see the fruits of their labor and to say 'thank you' for everything they do to support this national asset."

The acquisition professionals in the B-2 Program Office manage a multitude of modernization and sustainment programs valued at $7.1 billion. The B-2 Sustainment Branch manages and operates the B-2 Weapon System Support Center, which is the facility responsible for integrating and certifying all B-2 software for operational use.

For example, the WSSC integrated the Air Force's Massive Ordnance Penetrator (a 30,000-pound, precision-guided "bunker buster" bomb) on the B-2 as a quick reaction project. The WSSC's lab environment accomplished 50 hours of aircraft integration time in only 1 hour, allowing rapid delivery of the capability to combatant commanders. 

In addition, the WSSC integrated and tested the B-2's most recent major capability.  Known as Extremely High Frequency Increment I, this baseline dramatically improved the B-2's processing and communication bandwidth capability. With B-2 sustainment specialists issuing the modification directive in November 2013, the B-2 fleet is presently converting to this configuration. 

Additionally, the B-2 Program Office works tirelessly to sustain the B-2, responding to field requests for engineering support and keeping B-2 parts available so the stealth bomber remains available for the nation's taskings. From replacement avionics to structural composites, AFSC and the B-2 Sustainment Branch partner to resolve parts obsolescence issues and deliver new procurements of existing components. 

Together the two organizations are executing over a dozen major parts redesigns or re-procurement actions. In addition to resolving parts issues, the B-2 sustaining engineering team, which includes Northrop Grumman, is on call 24 hours a day to provide critical support to the 509th Bomb Wing. These often unsung heroes are the engine that keeps the B-2 viable in today's changing threat environment.
                                
Another groundbreaking initiative by the B-2 Program Office is driving lean concepts into Programmed Depot Maintenance, much like those implemented at Tinker by AFSC.  In cooperation with the B-2 industry partner, Northrop Grumman, as well as the warfighting customer, Air Force Global Strike Command, the number of steady-state B-2s in PDM decreased to two for the first time in history, giving aircrews more possessed aircraft to accomplish their missions. The benefits of these efforts are paying off; team B-2 recently delivered its first PDM aircraft in fewer than 365 days, a significant reduction from the historical 460 day average.

The B-2 Sustainment Branch was thrilled to host the "Spirt of Arizona" for the day and is meeting the challenge of keeping the B-2 Spirit as the world's most formidable strategic bomber.