ROBERT KAPLAN CALLS IT "the plane that would bomb Iran" but I knew the B-2 Spirit only by its impact on coral and soil. That's because years ago, when the B-2 stealth bomber was just a rattling saber, my job involved performing a few tests on soil samples taken from airfields suitable for use as alternative landing strips. You can locate those fields as small dots in the ocean today, similar to the island-hopping bases that served the US military during WWII. In the current issue of The Atlantic, a section of Kaplan's upcoming book features prominently along with a slideshow and a double-truck photograph of one of the most lethal pieces of technology ever assembled. It's been used to blast people out of caves because its bunker-busting ordnance can be delivered more accurately and more powerfully than cruise missiles or hand-held rounds. Supporting the 21 B-2s in the US Air Force takes a lot more logistical dedication than many strategic planners envisaged when I cobbled together deployment packages for the aircraft in the Pentagon. I think I still have some original working notes about the aircraft when it was in the blueprint stage, funded as a black project in some nondescript cubicle. Kaplan offers a much more interesting treatment of this billion dollar fixture than any other author I have read. If you like paintball, you will probably enjoy most of Kaplan's story about the people and the defense mission.
Robert Kaplan -- Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground ISBN 978-1400061334
Robert Kaplan -- "The Plane That Would Bomb Iran" in The Atlantic, September 2007.
