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on august 22, the u.s. air force announced that a b-2 "ghost" strategic bomber (hereinafter referred to as the b-2 bomber) of the u.s. air force recently made a brief stop at the diego garcia base in the indian ocean on its way to australia, which aroused outside attention and speculation.

practicing “dynamic deployment of force”

according to the us air force, the b-2 bomber belongs to the 110th expeditionary bomb squadron of the us air force. after landing at diego garcia, the us ground logistics team quickly refueled it so that it could take off again and fly to australia as soon as possible. during the entire take-off and landing process, the engine of the b-2 bomber has been running. this process is called "hot pit refueling" and is designed to improve the efficiency of combat aircraft's rapid go-around so that they can respond to battlefield threats at any time or increase the frequency of attacks on the enemy.

on august 19, two us air force b-2 bombers, including the above-mentioned bombers, flew over the southeastern airspace of australia under the escort of two f-22 fighters, two f-35a fighters, two ea-18g electronic warfare aircraft, and one e-7a early warning aircraft. a kc-30a tanker subsequently joined the flight formation to refuel the b-2 bombers and ea-18g electronic warfare aircraft in the air.

in recent years, australia has become an important base for the us strategic bombers to implement "dynamic force deployment". various types of us strategic bombers, including the b-2, frequently fly to australia for deployment and exercises. in march 2022, a b-2 bomber took off from whiteman air force base in the united states, flew for more than 50 hours and a range of nearly 13,700 kilometers, and landed at amberley air force base in queensland, eastern australia for the first time, conducting joint training with us air force f-16c fighters and australian air force f-35a fighters, ea-18g electronic warfare aircraft, and f/a-18f fighters.

since then, news of b-2 bombers flying to australia has been reported repeatedly in the newspapers. in august 2022, the us "war zone" website stated that four us b-2 bombers had been assembled at australia's amberley air force base. some foreign media said that in the indo-pacific region, in addition to the anderson air force base in guam in the pacific and the diego garcia air force base in the indian ocean, the b-2 bombers have another foothold, and this place is farther away from the opponent's attack.

"spoiled" is not useful

however, the truth is not that simple. the return of the b-2 bomber to the indian ocean after many years has just exposed its weakness of "difficulty in long-term overseas deployment". the b-2 bomber entered service in 1997, and its stealth performance was once "amazing", with a radar cross-sectional area reportedly only 0.1 square meters. however, the aircraft uses a rather "delicate" first-generation stealth coating, which is prone to peeling off due to friction with the air during flight. after each flight, ground crew members must inspect the surface of the fuselage and continuously maintain these coatings to ensure that the fuselage is in a stealth state. in the base maintenance project of the b-2 bomber, about 70% of the work is related to the coating.

what's more, the maintenance conditions of this coating are high and must be carried out in a constant temperature and humidity environment. for this reason, at the diego garcia base, the us military had to spend a huge amount of money to build a large hangar for the b-2 bomber that can automatically adjust the temperature and humidity to protect it from the erosion of the high temperature and high humidity climate in the tropical region. however, it is still difficult to carry out complete coating repair work in this area, which makes it impossible for the b-2 bomber to be deployed here for a long time. due to the troublesome maintenance and low proper rate, the b-2 bomber has been in service for more than 20 years. although it has participated in actual combat many times, its dispatch rate is far less than that of the b-1b bomber, let alone the relatively "tough" b-52h bomber. with the continuous development of long-wave anti-stealth radar technology, the stealth advantage of the b-2 has become weaker and weaker. it is much easier for advanced anti-stealth radars to detect b-2 bombers than to detect f-22 fighters. based on this, the united states is eager to develop a newer b-21 stealth strategic bomber.

therefore, this time, the b-2 bomber had to go to the indian ocean for resupply due to limited suitable landing places on its way from the united states to australia. the maintenance capabilities of the australian air force base for b-2 bombers are still far from the diego garcia base, which has a solid foundation and experience. the b-2 bomber cannot stay overseas for a long time, which is more restricted by its own insurmountable chronic diseases, and its withdrawal from the historical stage is also an inevitable trend.