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.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.