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Military Grounds Stealth Bomber Fleet

Ponca City, We Love You writes "America's entire B-2 stealth bomber fleet, which has played a crucial part in all major US conflicts since 1989, has been grounded after one of the jets crashed near a military base in Guam. The crash — the first involving the B-2 — was the most expensive single aircraft accident in history. (The planes cost $1.2B each.) Officials assume the crash was caused by either mechanical failure or human error, but have grounded all B-2s to ensure there is not some fundamental fault developing in the 21-strong fleet. The crash occurred Saturday morning local time as the B-2 was taking off from Andersen Air Force base on Guam, a US territory south of Japan. An Air Force spokesman said, 'The cause of crash is unknown, pending an investigation. The pilots had ejected safely — no serious injuries. One is mobile, one is still in the hospital under observation.'"

27 of 430 comments (clear)

  1. Please mod me down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It has been my lifes ambition to be modded down on slashdot. Please mod this post to -1. Thankyou.

    1. Re:Please mod me down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please mod me down (Score:1, Funny)

      I hate you all.

    2. Re:Please mod me down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Unfortunately you failed miserably; perhaps that was because you didn't write anything sufficiently obnoxious. May I suggest in future that you use post something along the lines of:

      "RANCID STEAMING HORSE COCK"
      "MOULDY DONKEY JISM"

      or perhaps even this:

      "PERVERTED ARSE-FUCKING LECHERY JESUS"

      I think you might have better luck if you try this approach instead.

    3. Re:Please mod me down by denalione · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's easy. Either say something positive about MS, Bush, and capitalism or something negative about Linux, whoever-is-against-Bush, and socialism and you will be -1 before you know it.

      Let this post be an example to you as it heads for the bottom.

  2. Crash by Bazman · · Score: 5, Funny

    A stealth bomber crashes? Nobody saw that coming.

  3. quadruple eternal spectral facepalm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    You're doing it wrong. Watch:

    A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.
    After an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
    "But why?" they asked, as they moved off.
    "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."
  4. Re:O really? by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Knowing "officials", we should be thankful they at least confirmed that the crash was caused by a collision with the ground.

  5. Re:Stealth? by click2005 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not just overclocking, the latest drivers support SLI too.

    http://www.bugimus.com/stealth/b2_refuel02.jpg

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  6. Guam TV Reports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Here's a news report from a local TV station.

  7. No Bling for the Stealth-Guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    >Not just overclocking, the latest drivers support SLI too.

    Man, that hood ornament must really fuck up the radar cross section.

  8. Re:O really? by jo42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    We can also rule out a frozen chicken up one of the intake ports.

  9. Re:O really? by ThomasLB · · Score: 5, Funny

    We can also rule out "Act of God," because we all know He's on our side.

  10. satellite debris? by petes_PoV · · Score: 4, Funny

    It wasn't hit by falling bits off a classied satellite, was it?

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    1. Re:satellite debris? by Neurotoxic666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      They'd blame it on the Chinese, anyway.

      --
      You are more than the sum of what you consume. Desire is not an occupation.
  11. question ... by codename.matrix · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... if a stealth bomber crashes and nobody sees it does it make a sound?

  12. Re:Stealth? by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

    Then comes the B-4. Takes out targets B4 they become a threat.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  13. Re:Stealth? by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Funny
    I've read they even have kamikaze units now.

    Apparently they're doing their training out near Guam...

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  14. Re:O'RLY! by Taleron · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't know... would a badger in the cockpit fall under "human error"?

  15. Re:Stealth? by Neurotoxic666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Read where? Citation or retraction, please."

    Hold on, I think you dropped something. Looks like your sense of humor. Here. Try not to lose it again, you might need it around here.

    --
    You are more than the sum of what you consume. Desire is not an occupation.
  16. Dear insane military-industrial complex by BigTimOBrien · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dear insane military-industrial complex,

    We lost one of your ultra-secret, 1.2 billion dollar stealth planes on a routine mission in the Pacific. The nation was wondering if you would consider replacing this one for free. We've given you just about all the extra money we had saved up for years and years, and we've taken out serious loans to be able to pay for increasingly flamboyant and unnecessary toys. I'm only asking for this freebie because it is getting more and more difficult to convince people that we really need to be spending money on weapons like this when an insurgent army can bring us to our knees in the middle of Iraq. Plus, people are starting to wonder if 1.2 billion dollars would be better spent teaching more intelligence analysts how to speak Arabic, Urdu, and Pashto, and I really think that 1.2 billion would go a long way toward helping us really fight terrorism.

    --
    ------ Tim O'Brien
    1. Re:Dear insane military-industrial complex by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dear Tim'O Brien,

      I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to answer your request. As you might already have guessed, we are selling weapons to everyone who pays, and this, of course, also includes these so called terrorists.
      If we don't take the money from you everybody will ask for a freebie. Even worse, if you use the saved money to educate people, this war on terror might actually be ended without the need for new weapons - which would leave us without a business. I hope you understand that we are obliged to maximize the profit for our shareholders.

      Maybe we can interest you in buying some of our shares instead to take part in the profits of our successful war enterprise.

      Yours sincerely

      the MIC

  17. Re:Stealth? by neumayr · · Score: 2, Funny

    That too, but the main reason were those annoying pilots that love that andrenalin rush a bit too much and kept blowing the windows of the refueling planes.

    --
    Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
  18. When you crash a B-2 bomber... by pongo000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...does the government dock your paycheck?

  19. Re:Stealth? by Epistax · · Score: 5, Funny

    $9 000 of fuel per second * 60 seconds per minute * 1440 minutes per day = $777 600 000 of fuel per day. Per plane.

    One of these numbers has to be wrong.

    Must be the number of minutes per day.
  20. Re:Math by britneys+9th+husband · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ever tried to drive a Prius in a parking lot? The pedestrians don't know you're there because there's no engine noise. All priuses are stealth.

    Oh and BTW 4 passengers = 500 pounds? Not in America, unless perhaps you mean Mom and Dad and their newborn twins.

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  21. Re:Math by AtomicSnarl · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ha Ha -- Made you all think! Nyah! Two adults and two kids in a Prius? 200 + 150 + 90 + 60. Adjust to suit. And you thought the Grammar Nazis were bad, heh heh...

    --
    Pacifist paratroopers yell, "Ghandi!" when they jump.
  22. Re:Stealth? by andy_t_roo · · Score: 2, Funny

    you mis-understood the gp
    "They just won't be burning $9000 of fuel per second on training missions for awhile"
    which appears to be totally correct - that is: they won't be burning $9000/second until a combination of peak oil and hyper inflation in the US raise the cost of fuel to $50