It Takes How Long to Wash?

Aug. 17, 2006

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

It takes maintainers—officer and enlisted—deployed from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., to Andersen AFB, Guam, about 24 hours to wash one of the wing’s B-2 bombers. And, they have to perform the cleaning job every 30 days with a special concentration of soap for the stealthy bomber.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Trending Stories

USAF’s ‘Re-Optimization’: Top Leaders Rule on What’s In, What’s Out

Airman Wounded in Shooting One of Few Air Guardsmen on DC Mission

F-16 Pilot Awarded Silver Star for Dodging Surface-to-Air Missiles over Yemen

Space Force Plans Surveillance Sats to Complement RG-XX Reconnaissance Fleet

Related

NRO’s Proliferated Satellite Constellation Outperforming Expectations

Dec. 3, 2025
The National Reconnaissance Office is seeing “great output” from its constellation of proliferated low Earth orbit satellites and is working with the Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to operationalize the capability, according to Deputy Director Maj. Gen. Chris Povak. 

Space Force Weighs Range Upgrades to Support Reusable Rockets

Dec. 2, 2025
The Space Force is planning improvements at its launch ranges to better accommodate the logistics and infrastructure demands that come with the launch industry’s shift toward reusable rockets, according to the commanders of the service’s two launch deltas. 

What the Air Force Transport Fleet Needs to Meet Surging Demand

Dec. 2, 2025
The Air Force’s airlift fleet is in desperate need of modern connectivity, spare parts, and other innovations to keep going amid growing demand and modernization plans still in their infancy, according to a former senior leader and a new research paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. 

Space Force Plans Surveillance Sats to Complement RG-XX Reconnaissance Fleet

Dec. 1, 2025
The Space Force’s strategy to replace its fleet of neighborhood watch satellites in geosynchronous orbit includes plans to field multiple satellite constellations, one focused on reconnaissance and one focused on surveillance that will autonomously track objects in GEO, the service said in a Nov. 26 notice.

Pentagon Awards $1.6B Contract to Sustain F-35 Engines for Next Year

Dec. 1, 2025
The Pentagon awarded RTX’s Pratt & Whitney a $1.6 billion contract for sustainment work on the F-35's engine on Nov. 28. The deal includes everything from software maintenance to spare parts for the F135 engine and runs through November 2026, spanning a dozen locations around the globe.

Boeing Gets $2.47 Billion Contract for 15 More KC-46s

Nov. 26, 2025
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.