B-2s use Hawaii, Alaska for target practice

[unhappycamper]

B-2s use Hawaii, Alaska for target practice
By Audrey McAvoy - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 23, 2007 6:03:08 EST

HONOLULU — More than 18,000 feet above the mountains on Hawaii’s biggest island, two B-2 stealth bombers drop six 2,000-pound inert bombs on a training range below.

It’s a scene being repeated monthly, as the Air Force’s sleek, boomerang-shaped planes regularly use Hawaii for target practice. The aim is to make sure pilots are trained and ready to act if needed. The Missouri-based bombers have been assigned to Guam to deter North Korea and fill gaps in the regional U.S. military presence created by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There are very few potential adversaries in the world that don’t understand and respect what this bomber capability can bring,” said Col. Timothy Saffold, deputy commander of the 613th Air and Space Operations Center in Hawaii.

At a cost of about $1.2 billion each, the B-2 bomber is designed so that it doesn’t show up on radar, giving it a unique ability to penetrate an enemy’s defenses and go after heavily defended targets. The plane was first shown to the public in 1988 and became available for military operations in 1997.

The planes have been flying test runs over Hawaii and Alaska since the Pentagon began rotating bombers through Guam in 2004. But they only started dropping inert bombs on the Big Island’s Pohakuloa Training Area last month when the Air Force heightened the realism of the exercises.

In the past, the pilots only simulated dropping weapons over the islands. Now, the pilots can see whether the bombs they release land where they are supposed to.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_b2targetpractice_071122/