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 Drive Lt. Col. Igor Suhr has develop into the primary and solely civilian licensed by the Division of Warfare (because the Division of Protection has been lately renamed) to fly the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber as a take a look at 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, below Air Fight Command.
A neighborhood Missouri resident, Suhr’s journey in aviation is wealthy, with over 6,000 flight hours each on navy and civilian plane. The B-2 Spirit is the mainstay of the service’s long-range typical 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 amenities on Jun. 21, 2025, within the rigorously 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 navy group from Whiteman AFB. He was “immersed in service and aviation,” and the “hometown child” as we speak has develop into “the primary and solely Division of Protection civilian licensed to fly the B-2 Spirit,” the press launch recounted. Subsequently, in contrast to the corporate or contractor take a look at pilots who’ve flown the B-2, Suhr is in reality the primary DoD civilian embedded in a Take a look at & Analysis Squadron.
Lt. Col. Igor Suhr’s earliest influences got here from a buddy’s grandfather, a World Warfare II bomber gunner, who had been shot down and brought prisoner of battle. “The story he informed left a robust 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 Drive in 2003 by the Officer Coaching College, he was satisfied by his commander Col. Cherry Pitts, a adorned F-15 Eagle veteran from Operation Desert Storm, to affix 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 couple of years later, he was considered one of 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 by 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 Drive B-2A Spirit stealth bombers being readied and departing Whiteman Air Drive Base, Missouri, for Operation Midnight Hammer, June 2025. pic.twitter.com/lpzYblXRSY
— Man Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) June 23, 2025
“He graduated from the US Air Drive Weapons College and later helped arise three new RPA squadrons and form the muse of contemporary RPA operations. Then he received a uncommon alternative: to return residence and fly the B-2 Spirit with the Missouri Air Nationwide Guard,” the press launch stated.
Suhr stated he “jumped on the likelihood,” summing up how the B-2 would full his flying expertise. “The F-15s are a pure flying pleasure,” he stated. “RPAs have been impactful and mission pushed; and the B-2 brings unmatched strategic worth.”
The swap to the B-2 coincided with the World Warfare on Terror from 2002 to 2021. Within the final years of that battle, Washington had begun reorienting itself in the direction of a traditional battle with peer rivals, which might see a extra outstanding position 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 a neighborhood boy. As an adolescent, 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 following 11 years with the one hundred and tenth BS flying the B-2, whereas additionally contributing to native aviation by 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 position 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 may form the bomber’s future.” Below the civilian pilot program, which he hopes would develop, Suhr nonetheless wears a flight go well with, black or vivid orange, with out rank, and believes his mission remains to be unchanged.
The U.S. Air Drive Life-Cycle Administration Heart (AFLCMC) lately revealed a collection of continuous software program upgrades to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, notably pertaining to its communications and survivability. These are deliberate to “occur constantly 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 Drive Base in Missouri. In Operation Allied Drive 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 position in the meantime permits him to “preserve serving whereas nonetheless flying,” at the same time as a civilian. “Being a part of the B-2 group and impacting warfighters means to succeed retains me related,” he stated.
