The U.S. Department of Defense doled out $2 billion apiece for a fleet of B-2 \u2018Spirit\u2019 bombers, which have silently menaced the skies since 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spirit is an apt name for the Northrop Grumman aircraft designed to be something of a ghost. But even one of the most stealthy pieces of technology in the Pentagon\u2019s arsenal evidently can\u2019t hide from the prying eyes of Google Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, some guy with undoubtedly too much time on his hands took to YouTube Monday to call out a B-2 for \u201ccrop dusting\u201d a farmer\u2019s field near Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t long before the military aficionados on Reddit picked up the video and upvoted this catch more than 100,000 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many users commented with their own experiences witnessing the B-2 in action, often describing its \u201ceerie\u201d presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWas standing in line at the bank when a women started screaming \u2018aliens,\u2019\u201d wrote user ShuantheSheep3<\/a>. \u201cOne of these was making a slow silent turn overhead [because] of a nearby airshow. Hilarious that people don\u2019t know what their own government has in it\u2019s arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The three-decade-old aircraft retains an impressively lethal record. And the YouTuber\u2019s crop-duster analogy is apt in that the B-2 is truly silent but deadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDuring its legendary combat debut in Operation Allied Force, the stealth bomber flew less than 1 percent of the total missions, yet destroyed 33 percent of the targets in the first eight weeks of the conflict,\u201d according to Northrop Grumman<\/a>. \u201cThe B-2 also set a record with a 44-hour air combat mission in 2001. Its ability to penetrate enemy territory undetected is why it\u2019s been called to duty in the opening phases of several conflicts including Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Odyssey Dawn and Operation Odyssey Lightning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can explore the farmer\u2019s field yourself on Google Earth by entering coordinates 39 01 18.5N 93 35 40.5W.<\/p>\n\n\n\n