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Air Force

Early Fuel System Inspection Helps Reduce B-2 PDM Time, USAF Says

Frank Wolfe

Monday, October 21st, 2024

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Early Fuel System Inspection Helps Reduce B-2 PDM Time, USAF Says

The "Spirit of Pennsylvania" B-2 with the 419th Flight Test Squadron, 412th Test Wing, flies over Air Force Operating Location Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. on July 17th (U.S. Air Force Photo)

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…

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