#B2 SPIRIT COCKPIT SERIES#

Owing to its rural setting, Whiteman Air Force Base blends into the fabric of the Midwest a world away from global events and turmoil. America's adversaries do not know if the B-2s are being fueled up, loaded with weapons, or if they are even in the hangars to begin with. Instead, they are tucked away in these nests and only emerge to take to the runway and fly away. B2s do not sit on the ramp under the watchful eye of Chinese and Russian spy agencies. Unconventional/Newsweekįor starters, each of the 20 B-2s in service has an individual hangar, known as a nest. Jamali will be one of the only civilians to ever fly in the aircraft ahead of its 30th anniversary. Newsweek's Naveed Jamali takes Unconventional behind the scenes at Whiteman Air Force Base as he sees the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit up close for the first time in preparation to fly in the bomber. Seeing the jet up close for the first time, I immediately understood exactly what he meant – but that mystique does not just apply to the jet, it extends to everything around it. The 'Mystique of the Unknown' is how Colonel Keith Butler, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, described the B-2 stealth bomber to me. Later this month, I'll actually fly in one.

Amid the unassuming cornfields and cattle of the heartland of Missouri, I had the chance to see a B-2 Spirit, the world's only stealth bomber, that 30 years later, remains an ultra-secret jet.

#B2 SPIRIT COCKPIT SERIES#

It is hard to strike a visceral emotion and convey the sense of danger and importance associated with meeting a Russian intelligence officer inside a café, where to an outside observer, the most dangerous thing is deciding whether to leave space for cream in your coffee as you nosh on a biscotti.īut even with my experience, I recently had a new kind of encounter as part of my Newsweek series ' Unconventional' that left a deep impression on me. What may surprise those less familiar with such work in highly classified intelligence operations, is just how pedestrian so much of it is.

As someone who spent over three years working counterintelligence against the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, and then 10 years as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy, I am used to living in a world of secrets and spies.

B2 spirit cockpit