Air Force leaders in charge of the nation's B-2 Spirit stealth bomber fleet say they have been working behind the scenes to keep the aircraft ready—even as a “safety pause” on flying approaches six months in length. A quarter-century after its introduction, the B-2 program is still shrouded in secrecy. But officials shed light on the steps they are taking to keep the aircraft, aircrews, maintainers, and weapons personnel up to speed as the service works to fix the problem that has led to a suspension of fight operations.

Robins Air Force Base, Ga., kicked off a new era late last month when its first E-11A arrived. Though the E-11A has been in combat service since 2008, its arrival at Robins is a milestone in the base’s transition from the retiring E-8 JSTARS aircraft to a new set of missions.

On May 11, a KC-10 tanker belonging to the 305th Air Mobility Wing took off from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., for a training sortie—for the last time. There’s still an airshow coming up next weekend the KC-10 is expected to participate in. But in terms of official training and operations, that's it until June 22, when the final aircraft heads to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to join the “Boneyard,” the Air Force’s massive facility that hosts retired aircraft. 

Sluggish testing is holding back U.S. efforts to develop and field new hypersonic weapon systems, and Congress must help the effort by funding new test capabilities and capacity, according to Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) and the NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute.