A B-2 bomber deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., crashed Saturday morning just after taking off, according to various news reports. An Air Force statement said the two pilots on board ejected safely. The Whiteman bombers have been deployed to Guam since last fall as part of a now-standard rotation to the Pacific region. It is the first crash of a B-2 bomber, which have been in operational use since 1993.
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.