The Pentagon insisted on Tuesday that the United States is still "nuclear-capable" despite a crash landing of the B-2A Spirit stealth bomber at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and the subsequent grounding of the entire B-2 fleet for a safety inspection.
"Well," Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder tells reporters, "the- the Department of Defense, to include the Air Force, has a variety of capabilities as its- at its disposal, particularly when it comes to our strategic bomber fleet."
"As you know, we also have the B-52, which is both conventional- and nuclear-capable, which provides a- a redundant capability, broadly speaking, when it comes to- to our strategic forces. And so for any aircraft, certainly, I- I know that our maintainers work very hard to ensure that those aircraft are available and off the ground as soon as- as soon as they can."
"In terms of the specifics on the status of the B-2," Ryder added, "I'd refer you to the Air Force, but I'm confident that we continue to maintain the bomber capability that we need to deter adversaries, and if necessary, engage in combat."
On Friday, Whiteman Air Force Base released a statement detailing that the entire B-2 fleet was ordered to be grounded for inspection following the plane crash on Dec. 10, which the Air Force's 509th Bomb Wing claims was due to "an in-flight malfunction during routine operations."
According to The Warzone, satellite imagery "from Dec. 18" shows the B-2 still sitting damaged on the airstrip, ostensibly preventing the use of Whiteman's single runway.
Conveniently though, the decision to ground the entire B-2 fleet falls within weeks of the Pentagon unveiling its next-generation stealth bomber — the B-21 Raider. According to NBC News, the Air Force, over the next 30 years, expects to produce 100 of the new stealth bombers. The estimated cost for the timeframe is expected to be no more than $203 billion for the $729 million aircraft.
"Not to minimize the situation anytime there's a stand-down," Ryder said in a Hill report referring to the B-2s, "but things are going to break and we're going to fix them and we're going to get them back in the air."
The Hill notes that "several B-2s from the fleet, which includes fewer than 20 planes," were recently "deployed to Europe as well as the Indo-Pacific in a show of force." The B-2s along with the "B-52 Stratofortress, makes up the air arm of the U.S. nuclear triad."
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