{"id":89256,"date":"2019-08-22T11:06:35","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T18:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=89256"},"modified":"2019-08-22T11:06:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T18:06:57","slug":"celebration-in-palmdale-marks-30-anniversary-of-b-2-spirit-first-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2019\/08\/22\/celebration-in-palmdale-marks-30-anniversary-of-b-2-spirit-first-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebration in Palmdale marks 30 anniversary of B-2 Spirit first flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Maj. Gen. James Dawkins, 8th Air Force and Joint-Global Strike Operations commander, addresses local government officials, Airmen and Northrop Grumman employees during the B-2 Spirit’s 30th anniversary celebration at Plant 42 in Palmdale on Aug. 20, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE – Thirty years ago, on July 17, 1989, an oddly-shaped and dark-colored new plane took to the sky for the first time at the legendary Plant 42 in Palmdale. That plane, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber<\/strong>, went on to join the U.S. Air Force\u2019s fleet and has been a staple of the nation\u2019s global air power dominance ever since.<\/p>\n

The B-2\u2019s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, hosted an event Aug. 20 at Plant 42 to mark the B-2\u2019s 30th anniversary of its first flight. Hundreds of employees, local leaders and military guests were on hand, including Maj. Gen. James Dawkins, 8th Air Force and Joint-Global Strike Operations commander.<\/p>\n

\u201cOperation Allied Force kicked off in 1999, when the B-2 took to the sky that spring,\u201d Dawkins said. \u201cThe B-2 was tasked to strike Serbian integrated air defense systems, military air fields, command and control nodes, munitions storage facilities and other high value targets in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The air strikes in that conflict saw the B-2 in its first combat operations. The B-2\u2019s success and its advanced technology continued on to Operation Enduring Freedom, Dawkins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe B-2s were the first to respond to the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, their targets were Taliban controlled air fields, surface-to-air missile systems and al-Qaida terrorist training camps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dawkins flew the \u201cSpirit of Pennsylvania\u201d B-2 into combat, and took the time to thank those at the event who were responsible for making his mission a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain the B-2 showed its combat capability\u2026each of these conflicts demonstrated the reality of the lethal force of the munitions the B-2 carried,\u201d he said \u201cIt is important to note that in between of these combat operations, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman team were hard at work at improving both the lethality of the weapons system, and, just as important, it\u2019s sustainability and maintainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the B-2\u2019s maiden flight in 1989, the B-2 eventually made its way to Edwards Air Force Base where it underwent initial developmental testing. Edwards AFB continues to be part of the B-2\u2019s testing of operational systems capabilities improvements.<\/p>\n

Sustainment modifications today remain an important aspect of the B-2 program, and the Air Force continues to team with Northrop Grumman to ensure it remains mission capable and ready, Dawkins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this is because of the sacrifice of the great men and women here and the ones that came before them to ensure that we\u2019re able to defend our nation, this is especially important today,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s critical, the capability this airplane brings and this team brings to the fight to ensure the defense of our nation; the B-2 continues to be ready to be called on to fight on night one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janis Pamiljans, Northrop Grumman President of Aerospace Systems, worked on the B-2 more than 30 years ago as flight test engineer. He said the celebration held a personal place for him because of the bonds that he formed working on the program and the human element it took for the Spirit to fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at the crowd and it is the people who really brought this capability,\u201d Pamiljans said. \u201cWe put it in front of the Warfighter, and the Warfighter did what they needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A B-2 Spirit is displayed in front of a hangar at Plant 42 in Palmdale on Aug. 20, 2019. The plane was on display in support of the B-2 Spirit’s 30th anniversary celebration. (U.S. Air Force photo by Giancarlo Casem)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE – Thirty years ago, on July 17, 1989, an oddly-shaped and dark-colored new plane took to the sky for the first time at the legendary Plant 42 in Palmdale. That plane, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, went on to join the U.S. Air Force\u2019s fleet and has been a staple of the nation\u2019s global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":89258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1494,1499,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}