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Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately south of Knob Noster, Missouri; east-southeast of Kansas City, Missouri. The host unit at Whiteman AFB is the 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW), assigned to the Eighth Air Force of the Air Force Global Strike Command . The 509 BW operates the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, designed to be employed to strike high-value targets that are either out of range of conventional aircraft or considered to be too heavily defended for conventional aircraft to strike without a high risk of loss. Whiteman AFB was established in 1942 as Sedalia Glider Base. ==Overview== Whiteman AFB is a joint-service base, with Air Force, Army and Navy units. Its host unit is the U.S. Air Force's 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW). Tenant units include the Missouri Air National Guard's 131st Bomb Wing (131 BW), the Air Force Reserve Command's 442nd Fighter Wing (442 FW), the Missouri Army National Guard's 1-135th Aviation Battalion and the U.S. Navy Reserve's Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 114. Whiteman AFB is the only permanent base for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Whiteman can launch combat sorties directly from Missouri to any part of the globe, engaging adversaries with nuclear or conventional weapon payloads. The 509th Bomb Wing first flew the B-2 in combat against Serbia in March 1999. Later, Whiteman B-2s led the way for America's military response to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. in September 2001. B-2 bombers were the first U.S. aircraft to enter Afghanistan airspace in October 2001, paving the way for other coalition aircraft to engage Taliban and Al Queda forces. During these operations, the aircraft flew round-trip from Missouri, logging combat missions in excess of 40 hours – the longest on record. Other aircraft assigned to Whiteman include the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack fighter; the T-38 Talon jet trainer, and the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Whiteman Air Force Base」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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