Let's look at pictures first, before getting into the nitty gritty of U.S. Air Force plane contracts and costs.
Putting a B-2 through its paces at 90 degrees latitude
This is a beautiful photo of a beautiful B-2 Spirit near the North Pole.
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| Testing B-2 performance at a geomagnetic extreme point |
The US Air Force provides some details about this test flight:
A B-2 Spirit flies to the North Pole on October 27, 2011, on a test mission from Edwards Air Force Base, California. The polar flight helped ensure that the B-2 maintains its capability in all environments...
The North Pole coordinates of L0, L90 are one rotation away from the Land of LOLs, or rather L0L0....
F-16 with bomb at Bagram
A GBU-54 is a 500-pound precision guided bomb. It uses both GPS and laser to find its target. Moving targets are challenging, and the GBU-54's "dual" guidance system improves accuracy.
In the photo below, a GBU-54 is mounted under the wing of an F-16 at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. I hope Joe Biden didn't leave it behind for the Taliban following our disastrous departure from Kabul in September 2021.
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| Courtesy U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Boitz |
I am curious whether those are two GBU-54s or one. If just one, does the smaller, oval-shaped thing next to it help launch it, or maybe provide fuel for it to travel to its target?
I think it is just one bomb, not two, because both objects have visible part numbers that start with "BJ21". I would really like to see how the mechanism to secure the bomb under the wing works!
*I saw a great meme thing a few days ago, with a BJ21 that had "Thank you for your attention to this matter" in acknowledgement of Donald Trump's new favorite phrase during communiques with Iran and Israel, regarding the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities in June 2025.
