B-2 Damaged In Emergency Landing

The Air Force has confirmed that a B-2 nuclear bomber caught fire after an emergency landing at the stealth aircraft's home base of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Saturday. "A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit experienced an in-flight malfunction during routine operations today and was damaged on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base after it successfully completed an emergency landing," the Air Force said in a statement to The Drive. "There were no personnel injuries. There was a fire associated with the aircraft after landing, and the base fire department extinguished the fire. The incident is under investigation." Social media posts suggested the aircraft went off the runway and may have had landing gear problems.

The mishap occurred a week after the rollout of the B-21 Raider that will become the Air Force's main nuclear strike aircraft and also during a high tempo operational period for the Spirit bombers. The Air Force has apparently been flying all available B-2s intensively in exercises based at Whiteman. A couple of weeks ago, the Air Force released a picture of a rare "elephant walk" of eight B-2s taxiing on the runway at the base.