After five months of safety inspections, the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 stealth bombers are scheduled to return to the skies today. The country’s 20-bomber fleet is located at Whiteman Air Force Base in west-central Missouri’s Knob Noster.

Air Force Times reports one was damaged last December from an in-flight malfunction that sparked a fire and caused an emergency landing. No injuries were reported in that case.

The Air Force grounded the fleet after that incident – canceling B-2 flyovers of the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl last January. Global Strike Command stressed during the pause that the B-2s could still be dispatched on the president’s orders or in support of homeland security in an emergency.

According to Air Force Times, the military branch has not yet released a public version of its investigation into the December 2022 emergency landing.

The aircraft can carry conventional and thermonuclear weapons. They have been deployed around the world, including to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Libya. The bombers have also been used to prevent Russian and Chinese aggression toward the U.S. and America’s allies.

Copyright 2023, Missourinet.