The Air Force completed testing and integration of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator on the B-2 stealth bomber, stated Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, Wednesday. With the 30,000-pound MOP, the B-2 is “our nation’s only long-range anti-access penetrating strike platform capable of delivering nuclear and heavy conventional payloads,” said Kowalski during a National Defense University Foundation address in Washington, D.C. USAF began flight testing MOP on the B-2 after taking the lead last year from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which had led efforts demonstrating the MOP on the B-52H. Kowalski also said AFGSC—together with B-2 prime contractor Northrop Grumman—has completed radar modernization of four B-2s this year, bringing the total number of B-2s with upgraded radar to 12, or 60 percent of the 20-aircraft fleet. The modernization improves radar maintainability along the way, explained Kowalski. The Air Force also is now working to upgrade the B-2’s defensive management system to allow the aircraft to “operate in anti-access and aerial-denial environments well into the future,” he said.
The design of the launch facilities for the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are likely to undergo major revision, posing yet another challenge for the much-delayed and over-budget program to modernize the land-based component of America’s nuclear triad, officials said.