Lt. Col. (Ret) Igor Suhr flew operationally the F-15, MQ-1, MQ-9 and B-2, and after retiring he turned the lead B-2 Operational Take a look at Pilot with the 72nd Take a look at and Analysis Squadron.
Retired U.S. Air Power Lt. Col. Igor Suhr has turn into the primary and solely civilian approved by the Division of Warfare (because the Division of Protection has been not too long ago renamed) to fly the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber as a check pilot, based on a press launch by Whiteman AFB, Missouri, on Sep. 8, 2025. Suhr, who beforehand flew the F-15 Eagle, MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, concluded his profession flying B-2 Spirit with the one hundred and tenth Bomb Squadron at Whiteman AFB for 11 years, and is now the DoW’s lead B-2 Operational Take a look at Pilot with the 72nd Take a look at and Analysis Squadron, a part of the 53rd Wing, underneath Air Fight Command.
An area Missouri resident, Suhr’s journey in aviation is wealthy, with over 6,000 flight hours each on army and civilian plane. The B-2 Spirit is the mainstay of the service’s long-range standard and non-conventional strategic strike platforms, at the least till the 2030s, when it’s deliberate to get replaced by the B-21 Raider.
The strike by USAF B-2s on Iran’s nuclear services on Jun. 21, 2025, within the fastidiously orchestrated ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ that was 15 years within the making, upheld its significance as the first long-range stealth bomber. The U.S. operates 19 B-2s, assigned to Whiteman AFB.
Journey
The press launch traced Suhr’s childhood fascination with aviation, being born in Clinton and raised in Windsor, rising up surrounded by the army group from Whiteman AFB. He was “immersed in service and aviation,” and the “hometown child” immediately has turn into “the primary and solely Division of Protection civilian approved to fly the B-2 Spirit,” the press launch recounted.
Lt. Col. Igor Suhr’s earliest influences got here from a good friend’s grandfather, a World Warfare II bomber gunner, who had been shot down and brought prisoner of warfare. “The story he instructed left a strong impression. I by no means actually determined to be a pilot. It simply felt like one thing I needed to do,” Suhr stated.
After turning 18, Suhr misplaced his mom, and adopted his household’s encouragement to pursue aviation on the College of Central Missouri. He progressed shortly from a non-public pilot to licensed flight teacher in simply 13 months, “whereas flying skydivers, instructing, and educating as a graduate assistant.”
After being commissioned within the Air Power in 2003 via the Officer Coaching Faculty, he was satisfied by his commander Col. Cherry Pitts, a embellished F-15 Eagle veteran from Operation Desert Storm, to hitch the fighter stream. He graduated prime of his class at Vance AFB and have become an Eagle pilot with the sixtieth Fighter Squadron (FS) at Eglin AFB, Florida. He additionally had temporary stops at Moody and Tyndall AFBs in Georgia and Florida, respectively.
Nonetheless, a number of years later, he was one in all 200 fighter and bomber pilots chosen to function RPAs (Remotely Piloted Plane), and Suhr subsequently transitioned to the MQ-1 Predator at Creech AFB, Nevada. “It wasn’t a transfer I selected, however I needed to embrace it,” he stated. He labored via the demanding seven-days-on, two-days-off, 12-hour shifts, changing into a twin certified teacher and evaluator. He additionally turned the primary pilot to surpass 1,000 hours on each the MQ-1 and MQ-9 Reaper.
🇺🇸 Video exhibiting U.S. Air Power B-2A Spirit stealth bombers being readied and departing Whiteman Air Power Base, Missouri, for Operation Midnight Hammer, June 2025. pic.twitter.com/lpzYblXRSY
— Man Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) June 23, 2025
“He graduated from the US Air Power Weapons Faculty and later helped get up three new RPA squadrons and form the inspiration of contemporary RPA operations. Then he bought a uncommon alternative: to return dwelling and fly the B-2 Spirit with the Missouri Air Nationwide Guard,” the press launch stated.
Suhr stated he “jumped on the probability,” summing up how the B-2 would full his flying expertise. “The F-15s are a pure flying pleasure,” he stated. “RPAs had been impactful and mission pushed; and the B-2 brings unmatched strategic worth.”
The change to the B-2 coincided with the International Warfare on Terror from 2002 to 2021. Within the final years of that warfare, Washington had begun reorienting itself in direction of a standard warfare with peer rivals, which might see a extra outstanding function of the B-2.
Return to Missouri to fly B-2s
The project to fly B-2 Spirits resonated personally at a number of ranges, not solely as a result of he was an area boy. As a youngster, he stood on Whiteman’s flight line to witness the arrival of the primary B-2 Spirit, the Spirit of Missouri (serial 88-0329), that touched down on the base on Dec. 17, 1993. It was solely lucky that 20 years to that date, on Dec. 17, 2013, and the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight with the Flyer 1, Suhr joined the one hundred and tenth Bomb Squadron.
He spent the subsequent 11 years with the one hundred and tenth BS flying the B-2, whereas additionally contributing to native aviation via a flying membership, air racing, performing in airshows, and mentoring younger aviators as an FAA designated pilot examiner. Much more, Suhr’s household too is within the aviation enterprise, with stepson and daughter-in-law each working at Whiteman as B-2 low observable technicians.
New function in B-2 testing and upgrades
On the 72nd Take a look at and Analysis Squadron (TES), a part of the 53rd Wing, Suhr is chargeable for “testing and evaluating mission upgrades that can form the bomber’s future.” Underneath the civilian pilot program, which he hopes would develop, Suhr nonetheless wears a flight swimsuit, black or vivid orange, with out rank, and believes his mission continues to be unchanged.
The U.S. Air Power Life-Cycle Administration Heart (AFLCMC) not too long ago revealed a collection of constant software program upgrades to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, significantly pertaining to its communications and survivability. These are deliberate to “occur repeatedly to make sure the B-2 fleet stays operational till the B-21 is fielded.”
The “Spirit of Missouri” is the identify of the primary B-2 Spirit plane, delivered in 1993, based mostly at Whiteman Air Power Base in Missouri. In Operation Allied Power it destroyed 33% of Serbian targets within the first eight weeks. 01-01-25 pic.twitter.com/5vIQhWo0uy
— Matt Hartman (@ShorealoneFilms) January 1, 2025
The service’s 19 B-2s undergo a rigorous and exhaustive Programmed Depot Upkeep (PDM) each 9 years at Northrop Grumman’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. Suhr’s new function in the meantime permits him to “maintain serving whereas nonetheless flying,” at the same time as a civilian. “Being a part of the B-2 group and impacting warfighters capability to succeed retains me related,” he stated.
