
U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers by Northrop Grumman [NOC] typically undergo a 470-day programmed depot maintenance (PDM) every nine years in Palmdale, Calif., to repair the bomber and restore its low-observable (LO) materials, but the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) said that it has reduced that time to 379 days on a recently refurbished B-2--the "Spirit of Nebraska"--in part by incorporating a fuel system inspection early in PDM. "In the past, if an inspection identified a…