B-2 three-ship satisfies test objectives

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Danielle Quilla
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  The first-ever B-2 Spirit three-ship with the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) was performed  by the 72nd Test and Evaluation Squadron(TES) and the 509th Bomb Wing (BW) at Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB), Missouri, June 6, 2016.

"This was the first time we have ever loaded three B-2s, each with two 30,000-pound weapons, and put them all in the air at the same time for an operational and development test event," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Benjamin Pancoast, the 72nd TES director of operations. "Although we have our own experts, it took major muscle movement from the 509th Bomb Wing to make this successful."   

For the 72nd TES, relationship management is vital to accomplishing the tests and evaluations necessary to ensure the B-2 and its weapons system are operational in a realistic environment.

"We bridge the gap between research and development," said Lt. Col. William Hepler, the 72nd TES commander.

The squadron is responsible for putting the final stamp of approval on new technology. For this reason, many of the 72nd TES members are former 509th BW members chosen because of their B-2 experience. 

"The members are working on equipment before it is fielded and officially put on the airplane," said Hepler. "They have to be very experienced in order to know how that new piece of equipment is going to affect the future maintenance on the airplane."

There are B-2 experts employed in the maintenance, operations, communications, administration, instrumentation, analyzing and engineering fields that come together in this one unit to perform B-2 tests.

Although they reside at Whiteman, the 72nd TES members are not assigned to Air Force Global Strike Command. Instead, they fall under Air Combat Command and report to the 53rd Test and Evaluation Group at Nellis AFB, Nevada, and the 53rd Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida.

"The relationship management is important," said Pancoast. "For example, we have a good relationship with the development test individuals who are in an entirely different command, the Air Force Material Command, and we even have touch points back to the program office, which is at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio."

Once the new technology is ready to be tested for operational capability, it is sent to the 72nd TES for a full evaluation.

"On the operations side, we have a survivability shop, which looks into new testing, capability and programs to help the B-2's survivability going into combat," said Hepler.  "The weapons shop deals with weapons software and communications for the B-2 to be able to integrate into the combat Air Force's ability to effectively go to war."

In addition, the instrumentation shop ensures the aircraft effectively records what is happening on it in case the desired outcome does not occur and they need to make changes. The data services shop makes sure the correct network, systems and data reduction capabilities are put into place.

Finally, an operational and development test event is performed to ensure that the new technology works and does what it needs to do in combat. The first B-2 three-ship performed with the MOP satisfied both the operational and developmental objectives. 

"With the small-fleet dynamics of the B-2, the relationship between the 509th Operations Group (OG) and our tenant units is critical to ensure we meet all of our requirements to keep our crews combat ready and continue to advance the B-2 as a viable weapon system well into the future," said Col. Brian Gallo, the 509th OG commander. "The continual teamwork between our organizations ensures the most efficient use of this unique national asset that enables our warriors to deliver daily deterrence and on-call global strike."