Homeownership is becoming less attainable because of high mortgage rates and insurance costs.
The climate crisis is triggering insurance price hikes, as insurers anticipate more damage payouts.
Some Americans are opting for rentals or to relocate due to the high costs of owning a home.
Aspiring homeownersmight be out of luck this year — and high mortgage rates are only part of the problem.
Rising insurance costs could keep homeownership out of reach for many. An April analysis from personal finance company Nerdwallet shows just how dire the situation is: Homeowners are now spending between $500 and $5,500 a year on insurance, depending on where they live.
According to the insurance comparison shopping site Insurify, overall home insurance costs have risen about 20% in the past two years and have the potential to rise another 6% in 2024.
Adding to that, as the climate crisis escalates, it's likely homeowners insurance will only become more expensive. Destructive weather events are becoming more intense and more frequent, meaning insurers expect to pay out more damages, per Insurify.
The climate crisis is causing homeowners' insurance costs to rise
The average American homeowner pays $1,915 a year in insurance costs — about $160 a month — per NerdWallet. Insuranceis an inevitable monthly budget item: Itis often required by mortgage lenders or state governments.
This cost is just an estimate and can vary greatly depending on the size or location of a home. For instance, insurance rates increase in states with more severe natural disasters. In tornado-prone Oklahoma, for example, that annual cost jumps to $5,495 a year.
Major insurer State Farm announced last year that it will stop insuring new homeowners in California as the state faces risks of earthquakes, wildfires, and heat waves. Allstate has also limited coverage in the state.
Since 1980, there have been over 370 individual weather and climate disasters in the US that topped $1 billion in damage. About 130 of those events — storms, wildfires, floods, and extreme temperatures — happened in the last decade.
The property insurance industry lost nearly $26 billion in 2022, according to the most recent American Property Casualty Insurance Association data. To make up for losses, many companies are raising premiums.
Laura Longero, executive editor of insurance at the marketing firm QuinStreet, previously told Business Insider that she predicts costs will only go up for residents in high-disaster areas.
"Where people are going to end up living is going to determine how much they pay for a lot of things," she said. "If you're on the coast of California, Florida, or Texas, there are these more adverse weather events that are happening — those are going to affect homeowners rates."
This phenomenon is mirrored in car insurance prices, which have hit a 50-year high. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that vehicle insurance costs were 20.3% higher in December 2023 than in December 2022, leading to higher premiums and deductibles for drivers.
Some Americans are choosing to rent or move due to high homeownership costs
Even as insurance rates continue to climb and price out some homeowners, other Americans are findingalternative ways to afford housing.
Some Gen Zers and millennials are still feeling optimistic about buying a home when inflation rates cool, while others are choosing to forgo expensive homeownership and renovate their rentals instead.
Van life and digital nomad living became especially popular during the pandemic, as some Americans chose to travel and work remotely instead of owning a home. In some cases, homeowners in high-climate-risk areas like Florida have also chosen to sell their houses and relocate.
Are you a homeowner paying a lot for insurance? Have you chosen to rent or move because of homeownership costs? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.
The "Big Four" are the world's largest accounting and consulting firms.
They're known for paying high salaries — but all have laid off staff in recent months.
Here's how Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY compare in terms of pay, perks, and RTO policies.
The "Big Four" are the world's largest accounting and consulting firms, with a combined 1.3 million employees worldwide.
Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, and Ernst & Young (EY) are known for paying high salaries. However, all four have laid off staff over the past year in a bid to trim costs amid a challenging economic environment.
Here's how the Big Four stack up when it comes to pay, perks, and return-to-office (RTO) policies.
Deloitte
Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images
Business Insider analyzed disclosure data from the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification to work out how much each member of the Big Four pays its employees.
At Deloitte, salaries range from $49,219 a year for entry-level analysts to as much as $875,000 a year for senior principals.
The firm's US operation employs just over 170,000 people across 80 offices, with its headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
Employees are entitled to 16 weeks of paid parental leave, can take three or six-month sabbaticals at 40% of their base pay, and are eligible for a wellbeing subsidy worth up to $1,000.
Deloitte doesn't have a set RTO policy, although this may vary from team to team.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) pays its entry-level associate roles a minimum of $68,000 a year — and its highest-paid principals earn nearly $1.4 million, according to the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification data.
The firm's headquarters are in London, but it has almost 50,000 employees in the US, spread across 79 offices.
PwC offers employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave and has a student loan paydown benefit plan that pays off up to $1,200 a year for associates and senior associates.
The majority of US-based employees follow the firm's hybrid model, which allows them to spend up to half their time working remotely.
Rod Adams, talent acquisition and onboarding leader, offers his tips for landing a job at PwC.
KPMG
Charles Platiau/Reuters
At KPMG, associates make at least $61,000 a year, while managing directors are paid up to $485,000.
The firm says it's the fastest-growing Big Four member in the US, with 40,000 employees and partners and some 75 offices. Its headquarters are in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, but it has an executive office on Park Avenue in New York City.
Like PwC, KPMG staff can take up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. It also offers firm-wide nine-day breaks in July and December, which it believes encourages employees to book time off without worrying about catching up on work.
Most KPMG employees follow a hybrid working pattern, although a limited number are either fully remote or fully office-based.
According to the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification data, EY entry-level accountants and auditors earn $54,000 a year and up. Managers earn an average of $320,000 a year, while computer and information systems managers can earn up to $600,000 a year.
The firm's headquarters are in London, but it employs more than 60,000 people across 131 locations in the US. This week EY announced it would be laying off 3,000 of those workers due to "overcapacity" in certain divisions, Bloomberg reported.
Like Deloitte, EY offers 16 weeks of paid parental leave and runs a wellbeing fund that reimburses most of its US-based employees for up to 75% of their gym membership costs.
The firm has hit headlines by launching a stricter return-to-office push than its competitors, including using "turnstile access data" to track workers' movements in the UK.
Lockheed engineers designed the D-21 spy drone in the 1960s for reconnaissance missions too dangerous for piloted aircraft.
US Air Force
Lockheed developed a spy drone in the 1960s that crashed in China.
China recently debuted a supersonic drone that bears a striking resemblance to Lockheed's D-21.
The D-21's urgent development was marked by ambition and tragedy.
On March 20, 1971, a specially modified US Air Force B-52 bomber from the 4200th Support Squadron took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam carrying a unique aircraft mounted under its wing.
The aircraft, shaped like a dart and painted black, was a D-21 supersonic reconnaissance drone. It was to be the fourth such drone to conduct aerial reconnaissance of China's Lop Nor nuclear test site in northwestern China, and despite its sophistication, it would crash into the very country it was intended to spy on.
Created by the renowned Lockheed Corporation, the D-21 was the most advanced unmanned aircraft of its time. Intended to bridge a gap between burgeoning satellite technology and manned reconnaissance flights, the drone's development was filled with ambition, urgency, and tragedy.
Ultimately unsuccessful, the drone would be relegated to the annals of aviation history if not for the appearance of a strikingly similar Chinese drone unveiled at a recent military parade. This delta-shaped drone of similar size also requires being launched by a mothership. But Chinese engineers claim advances that go much farther than the D-21, reaching 30 miles into the atmosphere and speeds up to Mach 6.
This is what we know about the high-flying Chinese spy drone and the D-21 upon which it could be based.
An urgent need
The origins of the D-21 start in 1960, when Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane were shot down over the Soviet Union by a Soviet surface-to-air missile. The incident pushed President Dwight Eisenhower to discontinue all manned reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union to avoid future casualties and embarrassments.
But the need to surveil Soviet military sites was still vital, and while reconnaissance satellites were starting to be launched into space, the technology was nascent. Satellites carried a limited amount of film despite being in orbit for days, had limited repositioning ability, and were not as available for short-notice launches in emergencies compared to manned aircraft.
A faster and higher-flying successor to the U-2, the A-12, was in development. However, as a conventional aircraft, it still had to be manned, and the White House and CIA alike were both reluctant to risk the capture of another pilot, especially if it also meant losing an even more advanced aircraft in the process.
Consequently, the CIA needed a stopgap solution until the satellite programs matured. In 1962, the Central Intelligence Agency approached Lockheed's Skunk Works division (which created the U-2 and the A-12) for such a solution.
High altitude, high speed
Lockheed's solution was to create an unmanned high-altitude high-speed reconnaissance aircraft with similar capabilities as the A-12, but much smaller. Originally designated as the Q-12, the drone utilized a delta wing design, had a wingspan of 19 feet, and measured 42 feet long.
It was powered by a Marquardt RJ43-MA-20S4 ramjet engine that ran the entire length of the aircraft. Capable of producing 11,500 lbs. of thrust, the engine gave the drone a top speed of Mach 3.3, and enabled it to reach an altitude of 95,000 feet. The D-21's range, meanwhile, was over 3,000 miles.
Because it was powered by a ramjet engine, the drone had to be launched from a mothership once it reached a speed where the ramjet could be activated. A modified A-12 was judged to be the best candidate. Redesignated as the M-21, the jet would carry the drone, redesignated as the D-21, on its fuselage, then release it once it reached a speed where the ramjet could be activated.
Once released, the D-21 would fly a pre-programmed route utilizing an internal navigation system to the area of interest, where it would take photos.
Once taken, the D-21 would fly to a designated area, eject its film cannister, then self-destruct. The film cannister, meanwhile, would be snatched from the sky as it parachuted down by a waiting JC-130B, or be collected by a Navy vessel.
Dubbed Project Tagboard, the first carry test occurred on December 22, 1964, with the first separation and flight test occurring on March 6, 1966. Two more largely successful tests followed.
But the fourth flight test, on July 30, ended in tragedy when the D-21 collided with the M-21 after release, destroying both aircraft. Pilot Bill Park and Launch Control Officer Ray Torrick successfully ejected, but Torrick's flight suit was likely torn in the process, leading to it filling with water when both men landed in the ocean, causing him to drown.
After the crash, it was decided that using M-21s as a mothership was too dangerous. Instead, a modified B-52H would be used, carrying up to two drones under its wings. As the bomber was unable to fly at the speed required to activate the D-21's scramjet engine, a 44-foot rocket booster was attached underneath it. After release, the booster would ignite to bring the D-21 to the required speed, then detach after its scramjet came online.
A B-52H bomber carries the D-21B. A rocket booster provided the acceleration to start the drone's ramjet engine.
US Air Force
Senior Bowl
Now dubbed Project Senior Bowl, the new system was tested multiple times between September 1967 and early 1969 with mixed results. The D-21's first fully successful test occurred on June 16, 1968, which saw it fly some 3,000 miles at 90,000 feet.
Despite its spotty success record, the drone was approved for limited service in 1969. Flying out of Andersen Air Force Base, the D-21s were given the task of spying on China's Lop Nor nuclear test site, where China had detonated its first nuclear weapon five years earlier.
But while the tests had mixed results, the missions were all failures.
The first mission, on November 9, 1969, was perhaps the worst. After launching from its mothership and reaching Lop Nor, contact with the D-21 was lost, and it disappeared.
In fact, the drone continued flying all the way into the Soviet Union, and crashed in the Siberian wilderness. With the wreckage recovered, Soviet engineers drew up plans for a reverse-engineered copy called the Voron, but the project was never pursued.
After more than a year of further testing and preparation the second mission was flown on December 16, 1970. The D-21 launched successfully, reached Lop Nor, took its photographs, and arrived at the return point, but the film canister's parachute didn't deploy properly after ejection, and it was lost at sea.
The third mission, on March 4, 1971, proceeded similarly. The film canister's parachute deployed successfully, but the JC-130B failed to recover it before it splashed into the water. A Navy destroyer attempted to recover the floating canister, but accidentally collided with it, causing it to sink.
The fourth and final mission two weeks later was a complete failure, with the D-21 crashing into China's southwestern Yunnan province while en route to Lop Nor. The drone was recovered by the Chinese, and is on display at the Chinese Aviation Museum in Beijing.
With Senior Bowl resulting in four operational failures, and with each drone costing at least $2.5 million, the D-21 program became hard to justify — especially as satellites were becoming more advanced.
Consequently, the program was canceled in July 1971.
Of the 38 D-21's built, 21 had been used in tests or operations. The remaining D-21s were put into storage, and eventually made their way to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.
Apart from the crashed model at the Chinese Aviation Museum, 11 D-21s are on display in the United States.
A WZ-8 reconnaissance drone is on display at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition on September 28, 2021 in Zhuhai, China.
Chen Xiao/Getty Images
A Chinese copy?
The D-21 had largely faded from public memory until 2019, when, at the military parade commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1, China unveiled a similar-looking drone.
Dubbed the WZ-8, the drone is a delta-wing design, about 37 feet long, and has a wingspan of 22 feet. Instead of a scramjet running the length of the body, it is powered by two rocket motors.
Like the D-21, the WZ-8 must be launched by a mothership during flight — specifically an H-6M, a version of the H-6 strategic bomber modified to carry cruise missiles on external hardpoints.
Chinese media has reported that the WZ-8 is capable of flying 160,000 feet and as fast as Mach 6. Its sensor suite reportedly includes a daylight electro-optical sensor and a synthetic aperture radar.
Documents reportedly leaked from US intelligence sources last year revealed that China has "almost certainly" established its first operational WZ-8 unit.
One document, alleged to originate from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, claims that the unit is based at Liuan Airfield, and that its missions could include high-altitude reconnaissance flights of the South Korean coast and virtually all of Taiwan.
According to the document, the drone would be released from its mothership just off the northern or eastern Chinese coast, execute its mission, then return and land at Chinese coastal airfields, whereupon it would be loaded back on an H-6M bomber and return to Liuan. The document lists the WZ-8 as being capable of flying up to 100,000 feet at Mach 3.
It has been separately speculated that the WZ-8 could be used to track US carrier battle groups in the Pacific in real time.
Subsequent reporting confirmed the presence of at least one WZ-8 at Liuan Airfield. The base, which is reportedly home to the 29th Air Regiment of the People's Liberation Army Air Force's 10th Bomber Division, has been receiving extensive upgrades since at least early 2019.
Benjamin Brimelow is a freelance journalist covering international military and defense issues. He holds a master's degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in international security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His work has appeared in Business Insider and the Modern War Institute at West Point.
Michael Swensen/Getty Images and Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The United Auto Workers union won a critical vote at a plant in Tenessee.
After a massive strike last year, the union set out to organize more factories that aren't represented, including Tesla.
The union's white whale is Tesla, workers of which have never been represented by a union.
Volkswagen workers in Tennessee voted Friday to join the United Auto Workers union in a huge victory for the once-embattled union as it works toward another run at organizing Tesla.
After two failed attempts by the UAW in Chattanooga in recent years, Friday's victory represents a turning point for the 89-year-old union.After years of dwindling membership, a messy federal criminal investigation, and high-profile automotive industry organizing failures, UAW President Shawn Fain is aiming to usher in a new era for his union.
The counting of the votes by the National Labor Relations Board continued late into Friday night, with Reuters reporting that a final tally of 2,628 to 985, or 73% of the votes, were in favor of unionizing.
After a 46-day strike that hit all three Detroit car companies simultaneously last year yielded some of the richest UAW contracts in recent memory, Fain said the UAW was just getting started.
A massive drive has since gone into full force as the union encourages thousands of non-union auto workers to sign union cards, targeting nearly 150,000 US auto workers across 13 companies — including those outside Detroit and, most notably, Tesla.
This week's victory at Volkswagen makes history as the UAW's first successful organizing campaign at a foreign car company in the South. After the election at Volkswagen, the UAW is pressing deeper into the South next month for another unionization vote at Mercedes-Benz's factory in Alabama.
The warm-up for Tesla
Conquering the South is just a warm-up for the big event for the UAW: Organizing Tesla.
Tesla has never held a union vote at any of its US facilities. The electric car company has long been an organizing target for the UAW, but aggressive anti-union culture and rhetoric from CEO Elon Musk have stymied efforts up until now.
The UAW's previous push at Tesla fizzled out by 2019 as a federal criminal investigation stole union leaders' attention, sent two previous UAW presidents to prison, and dented the public's trust in the union. The UAW has since undergone a government-led reform and Fain became the union's first democratically elected president in March 2023.
Some Tesla workers were in the early stages of forming a union during the UAW's massive strike this past fall, a union official told The New York Times. While Tesla initially benefited from these work stoppages, labor experts have warned that momentum for the UAW at other automakers could spell trouble for Tesla in the long run.
A successful UAW campaign is the last thing Elon Musk needs
Any major clash with the UAW would only add to Tesla's growing list of hurdles this year. After years of growth, Tesla reported declining deliveries in the first quarter of 2024, an early sign that not even the EV leader is immune to an industry-wide softening in demand for battery-powered cars.
On top of that, a year of slashing prices on its cars to appeal to more frugal EV shoppers has taken a toll on the company's industry-leading profit margins.
Tesla already increased wages for factory workers after the UAW's new raises went into effect, a move labor experts have said is designed to quell interest in union activity. Many Tesla workers already make more per hour than their unionized counterparts.
A group gather in Palestine Square in the Iranian capital Tehran, staging a demonstration to support Iran's drone and missile attacks on Israel, on April 15, 2024.
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images
Explosions occurred at a military base south of Baghdad in Iraq, according to reports.
The base is used by Harakat al Nujaba, an Iran-backed group, according to The New York Times.
It's unclear who is responsible for the explosion. The reports come a day after an Israeli strike against Iran.
Explosions occurred at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday, according to multiple reports.
The base, located south of Baghdad, is used by Harakat al Nujaba, an Iran-backed group, according to The New York Times.
An Iraqi security official told CNN at least three people were wounded in the blasts. A local hospital also told the Times three people were injured.
It is not clear who or what caused the explosions.
When reached by Business Insider, US Central Command noted a statement it shared on X, which said: "We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today. Those reports are not true. The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today."
The Department of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.
The reports come a day after Israel struck Iran, according to reports that cited unnamed senior US officials. Several explosions were heard near an Iranian military base. The New York Times reported two Israeli defense officials acknowledged the strike on Friday was carried out by Israel.
Those explosions came days after Iran attacked Israel last weekend, launching more than 300 missiles and drones, almost all of which were shot down by IDF and ally forces, like the US.
And they want to barbecue Trump over the way he seemingly couldn't stop defaming his own sex assault victim, writer E. Jean Carroll.
Possibly worse — given that Trump is on trial on charges of falsifying business documents — prosecutors also want to ask him about two trials where he and his executives were found to have falsified business documents. Those were the 2023 Trump Organization payroll-tax-fraud trial, and, again, the civil fraud trial.
"Yes," Trump told reporters as he left court Friday, when asked if he will testify.
It was at least the second time the GOP frontrunner promised to take the stand in his own defense at the trial, in which he is accused of falsifying business documents as part of a scheme to interfere with the 2016 election.
The timing was noteworthy.
Just moments earlier, Trump sat through what's called a Sandoval hearing, where his lawyers and prosecutors argued over what "prior bad acts" could be fair game on his cross-examination.
Trump was visibly angry — scowling at the defense table — as his acts were sorted over.
On his way out of the courtroom, he thumped a wooden railing with his hand.
"We object to each," defense lawyer Emil Bove had said of all the acts prosecutors want to bring into the case.
During the nearly two-hour Sandoval hearing, Bove complained of the DA's plans to the trial judge, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Bove said that the verdicts, judgments, and contempt-of-court orders that prosecutors want to question Trump about are mostly under appeal and "unduly prejudicial," meaning they'd unfairly prejudice the jury against the former president.
The defense lawyer fought especially hard against jurors hearing that a federal jury in Manhattan had found Trump liable for violating Carroll with his hands during an assault in the mid-1990s — an attack that the judge said effectively amounted to rape.
"What is the theory of this trial?" Bove asked angrily. "Are they making arguments about sexual misconduct?" he demanded. "This is a case about documents."
Trump's lying about sexual assault "is critical evidence that the jury should have in assessing his credibility if he testifies," countered Matthew Colangelo, a prosecutor for District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Merchan said he would render a Sandoval decision Monday, to be followed by opening statements.
Prosecutors will then call their first witness, a person whose name has not yet been made public. Their testimony will not be finished before the day breaks early for the first day of Passover, prosecutors said.
When defense lawyers asked for a second time for prosecutors to give advance notice of who would be the first witness, they were again turned down. Prosecutors are under no obligation to give early notice of their witnesses.
When defense lawyer Susan Necheles suggested that not knowing the name now might "delay the trial," the judge reacted sternly.
"Whether you get the name or not you are not going to delay the trial," the judge said.
"We don't want to, your honor," Necheles said.
"Well, you won't delay the trial," the judge snapped back.
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. CEO David Zaslav earned $49.7 million in 2023.
Zaslav's compensation increased despite actors' and writers' strikes, topping his 2022 earnings.
Warner Bros. reported losses for the year despite Zaslav's increased compensation.
In a year when thousands of writers and actors were fighting for higher paychecks, one media mogul earned big.
The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., David Zaslav, raked in a pay package worth $49.7 million in 2023, according to a regulatory filing released Friday.
Despite both the actors' and writers' strikes that lasted nearly 4 and 5 months respectively, Zaslav's pay for the year went up.
In 2023, his total compensation increased 26.5% from the year prior. It included $3 million in base pay, combined with more than $23 million in stock awards and a $22 million cash bonus, along with $1.6 in additional compensation, the filing shows.
But Zaslav's compensation in 2022 and 2023 is still modest compared to what he earned in 2021, when he was in charge of Discovery Inc. before its merger with WarnerMedia. That year, his pay package topped nearly $246.6 million.
At the same time, Warner Bros. as a company lost money for the year despite generating about $1 billion more profit than expected, thanks to costs saved from TV and film production being halted during the strikes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, wants to deprive former President Donald Trump of Secret Service protection if Trump is sent to prison.
Getty
Rep. Bennie Thompson wants to deprive Donald Trump of Secret Service protection if he's sentenced to prison.
It's unclear what will happen to Trump if he's sentenced to state or federal prison.
As a former president, Trump is entitled to Secret Service protection for life.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the former chairman of the House January 6 committee, introduced legislation on Friday that would strip former President Donald Trump of Secret Service protection if he is sentenced to prison.
"Unfortunately, current law doesn't anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee — even a former President," Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement released by his office. "It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality."
As Business Insider previously reported, there would be major logistical hurdles to overcome if Trump were to be incarcerated. One of the biggest concerns would be what happens to Trump's Secret Service detail. By law, former presidents and their spouses are entitled to lifetime protection unless they decline to accept the security. The children of former presidents are also entitled to protection until they turn 16.
Trump's first criminal trial began in Manhattan earlier this week. New York prosecutors allege that the former president falsified business records related to hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. On paper, Trump could face over 600 years in prison based on the combined charges of the four cases pending against him. In reality, he would likely serve a lot less based on sentencing guidelines. The maximum sentence on each count Trump faces in New York is four years of prison.
Under Thompson's bill, any Secret Service protectee would have their security stripped if convicted of a state or federal offense that is punishable by at least a year in prison. The legislation does not mention Trump directly. As such, it could apply to any future president, vice president, and their families. The Secret Service also protects major presidential candidates.
It's unlikely Thompson's bill will pass through the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority. Still, it is notable that a Democrat as senior as Thompson is responding to Trump's legal struggles this way. President Joe Biden and his campaign have been largely quiet on the Manhattan trial.
B-2 Spirit stealth bombers assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing taxi on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., April 15, 2024.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hailey Farrell
B-2 Spirit stealth bombers executed a mass fly-off earlier this week during a major exercise.
Photos show the bombers taking off from Whiteman Air Force Base.
The Air Force's B-2 bombers bring tremendous firepower blended with low-observable characteristics.
More than half of the US Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bombers conducted a large-scale exercise earlier this week, staging a massive fly-off.
Photos show the aircraft — known for its flying wing design and ability to leverage its lower-observable, or stealth, characteristics to penetrate even sophisticated enemy defenses and unleash a devastating conventional or nuclear strike— taxiing on the runway before taking off.
A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing taxis to the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., April 15, 2024.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hailey Farrell
The B-2s were flying out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Monday, finishing off the annual Spirit Vigilance exercise aimed at demonstrating the base's B-2 capabilities and readiness. This year's exercise featured the largest mass fly-off of B-2s ever, with 12 of the 20 active aircraft involved. The second largest was eight aircraft in 2022.
According to the Air Force, the B-2, a two-man strategic bomber manufactured by Northrop Grumman, "brings massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses." It's stealth capabilities give it the ability to do what other aircraft, like the B-52 and B-1 bombers, can't.
Video footage from the recent exercise published by Whiteman Air Force Base, the only operational B-2 base, showed the B-2 bombers being prepared for takeoff before hitting the runway and flying off.
The bomber first saw combat in the Kosovo War in 1999, striking Serbian targets with conventional munitions, and it has flown sorties over Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflict zones.
Its stealth capabilities, payload capacity, and potential to execute long-range strike missions make it a formidable aircraft and deterrent for US rivals. For a long time, it was the only stealth bomber in the world, but the US is making progress on a new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, which achieved its first flight in November last year.
As a penetrating strike stealth bomber, the B-21, the US military has said, is expected to "form the backbone of the future Air Force bomber force."
A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing takes off at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., April 15, 2024.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Matthew S. Domingos
For now though, the B-2 is the go-to stealth bomber, as the aircraft is able to threaten an adversary's "most valued, and heavily defended, targets. Its capability to penetrate air defenses and threaten effective retaliation provides a strong, effective deterrent and combat force well into the 21st century," the Air Force said.
Kanzuri is a traditional fermented chile paste that is exclusively produced in Myoko in Japan's Niigata Prefecture by the Tojo family. Before the family started selling the condiment in 1966, it was only made in small batches for household use. Today, a six-year-aged 2.5-ounce bottle sells for almost $20.