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The B-2 Spirit, made by Northrop Grumman, is an American multi-role stealth bomber able to drop conventional and nuclear weapons. A dramatic leap forward in technology, the bomber was a milestone in the U.S. bomber modernization program. The B-2 is the most expensive plane ever built. Estimates for the costs per plane range from $1.157 billion USD to $2.2 billion [http://www.cdi.org/issues/aviation/B296.html. Its stealth technology is intended to help it penetrate defenses previously impenetrable by combat aircraft. The original procurement of 135 aircraft was later reduced to 75 in the late 1980s. Finally, President George H. W. Bush reduced the final buy quantity to the 21 already bought in his now famous "New World Order" State of the Union speech, January 1991.
Features
With the B-52 Stratofortress and B-1B, the U.S. military claims that the B-2 provides the versatility inherent in manned bombers. Its low-observable, or "stealth," characteristics give it the ability to penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and attack its most heavily defended targets. This should make it useful well into the 21st century.
The revolutionary blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload gives the B-2 important advantages over previous bombers. Its traveling range is approximately 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km) without refueling. Also, its low-observation ability provides the B-2 greater freedom of action at high altitudes, thus increasing its range and a better field of view for the aircraft's sensors. With its GPS Aided Targeting System (GATS) combined with GPS-aided bombs such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), it can use its APQ-181 radar to correct GPS errors of targets and gain much better than laser-guided weapon accuracy with "dumb" gravity bombs with a GPS-aided "smart" guidance tail kit attached. It can bomb 16 targets in a single pass.
The B-2's stealth comes from a combination of reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures, making it difficult for defences to detect, track and engage. Many aspects of the low-observability process remain classified; however, the B-2's composite materials, special coatings and flying wing design contribute to its stealth abilities
The B-2 has a crew of two pilots, a pilot in the left seat and mission commander in the right, compared to the B-1B's crew of four and the B-52's crew of five.
History
The B-2 started life as a "black program" known as the High Altitude Penetrating Bomber (HAPB), then became the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) and used the project code word Senior Cejay. It later became the B-2 Spirit. An estimated 23 billion dollars was secretly spent for research and development on the B-2 in the 1980s. An additional expense was caused by changing its role in 1985 from a high-altitude bomber to a low-altitude bomber, which required a major redesign. Because the development of the B-2 was one of the best kept secrets of all USAF programs, there was no opportunity for public criticism of its massive cost during development. The first B-2 was publicly displayed on November 22, 1988, when it was rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, where it was built. Its first flight was on July 17, 1989. The B-2 Combined Test Force, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, is responsible for flight testing the engineering, manufacturing and development aircraft.
The first aircraft, named Spirit of Missouri, was delivered on December 17, 1993. Depot maintenance responsibility for the B-2 is held by Air Force contractor support and is managed at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
The prime contractor, responsible for overall system design and integration, is Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Sector. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Hughes Aircraft (now Raytheon), General Electric Aircraft Engines and Vought Aircraft Industries, are members of the aircraft contractor team. Another contractor, responsible for aircrew training devices (weapon system trainer and mission trainer) is Link Simulation & Training, a division of L-3 Communications formerly Hughes Training Inc. (HTI). * Link Division, formerly known as CAE - Link Flight Simulation Corp. Link Simulation & Training is responsible for developing and integrating all aircrew and maintenance training programs. The military contractors for the B-2 engaged in massive lobbying campaigns to gain Congressional support for its funding.
Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri was the B-2's operational base until early 2003, when facilities for the B-2 were built on the joint U.S./U.K. military base on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, followed by deployment to Guam in 2005. Facilities for the aircraft have also been built at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom.
Questions remain over the rising cost of the program *. Some writers have suggested that the huge cost may include costs for other black projects. The expense may also be partially explained by the small number of planes produced coupled with a large research overhead in the B-2 program.
These bombers were originally designed to drop nuclear weapons during the Cold War and support for them dwindled as military spending declined. In May of 1995, in a study commissioned by Congress, the Institute For Defense Analysis concluded that after the demise of the Soviet Union, there was no need for more B-2s.
Units using the B-2
United States Air Force
- 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base
- 53d Wing, Eglin Air Force Base
- 57th Wing, Nellis Air Force Base
Combat
The B-2 was derided by many as being too expensive to risk in combat. However, the aircraft has seen service in three separate campaigns.
Its debut was during the Kosovo War in 1999. The aircraft performed well and it introduced the satellite guided JDAM bomb to the world. Since then the aircraft has operated over Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The raids on Afghanistan saw a first for the aircraft. After flying bombing missions over Afghanistan, the aircraft landed at Diego Garcia, were refueled and had a crew change before another sortie. This was taken a step further during the Iraq campaign when B-2s were based at Diego Garcia.
Later missions to Iraq came from Whiteman AFB in Missouri. This resulted in missions lasting over 30 hours and one mission of over 50 hours. B-2 crews have been used to pioneer sleep cycle research to improve crew performance on long flights.
The Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation 2003 Annual Report noted that the B-2's serviceability for FY03 was still inadequate, mainly due to maintenance on the B-2's Low Observable materials. It also noted that the Defensive Avionics suite also had shortcomings in warning of pop-up threats. Despite these problems the B-2 maintained high serviceability for Operation Iraqi Freedom, dropping 583 JDAMs during the war. *
B-2 on Display
Because of their cost it is unlikely any B-2 will be placed on display in the near future. In 2004 the static test mock-up for the B-2 was placed on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. The mock-up had been used for structural testing, and at one point was tested to the point of destruction. The Museum's restoration team spent over a year reassembling the fractured airframe, and patches can clearly be seen on the exterior of the airframe when fractured sections were reattached. If this mock-up is eventually replaced with an actual B-2 it will likely represent the world's most expensive exhibit item.Trivia
- Weighing 71,668 kg, each B-2 cost over $30/g which is just under double its value in gold.
- Most B-2s are named for states in the US, following the naming convention "Spirit of *." The two exceptions are "Spirit of America" (AV-1) and "Spirit of Kitty Hawk" (AV-19).
- The B-2 simulator at Whiteman AFB has been dubbed "Spirit of Hell" by students who have endured marathon training sessions in it.
- The B-2 bomber has a piece of it made in every state of the United States (Why We Fight documentary).
- The mathematical model needed to calculate the angles of stealthplanes such as the F-117 Nighthawk and B-2 was developed by Russian scientist Pyotr Ufimtsev during the Cold War.
- The B-2, akin to the F-117, relies on very low observability and signature. This condition is compromised if the aircraft is flown in wet conditions. The skin of the aircraft is also very fragile and requires constant maintenance to preserve its minimal signature.
- For reasons not yet de-classified, the B-2 charges its leading edge to a very high electrical potential difference from its exhaust stream. It has been suggested (by Jane's Defence) that it augments the B-2's low thrust main engines. It is also a well known phenomenon that an ionised gas (plasma) will scatter a radar beam far more effectively than a solid surface of any conceivable shape. This could be the purpose of the high voltage leading edge. Another possibility is that it is for the purpose of reducing drag, since the leading edge of the B-2 might then move through a partial vacuum of ionised air which may be ionised and repelled by the high voltage. In any case, it is however true that Northrop engineers conducted wind tunnel tests using high voltage on a testbed wing leading edge to reduce supersonic drag as far back as 1968. These tests were with a view to breaking up the airflow ahead of the wing using electrical forces in order to soften a sonic boom. How this applies (if indeed it does at all) to the B-2 after an interval of many years is uncertain. The B-2 is (officially) a subsonic vehicle, so there would appear to be no immediate link, however tantalising the connection. Though intriguing, the true nature of this feature will probably not be known to the public for some very considerable time.
Specifications (B-2A: block 30)
List of B-2 Bombers
| Designation | Tail # | Formal name | Informal names |
|---|---|---|---|
| AV-1 | 82-1066 | Spirit of America | Fatal Beauty |
| AV-2 | 82-1067 | Spirit of Arizona | Ship From Hell, Murphy's Law |
| AV-3 | 82-1068 | Spirit of New York | Navigator, Ghost, Afternoon Delight |
| AV-4 | 82-1069 | Spirit of Indiana | Christine, Armageddon Express |
| AV-5 | 82-1070 | Spirit of Ohio | Fire and Ice, Toad |
| AV-6 | 82-1071 | Spirit of Mississippi | Black Widow, Penguin, Arnold the Pig |
| AV-7 | 88-0328 | Spirit of Texas | Pirate Ship |
| AV-8 | 88-0329 | Spirit of Missouri | |
| AV-9 | 88-0330 | Spirit of California | |
| AV-10 | 88-0331 | Spirit of South Carolina | |
| AV-11 | 88-0332 | Spirit of Washington | |
| AV-12 | 89-0127 | Spirit of Kansas | |
| AV-13 | 89-0128 | Spirit of Nebraska | |
| AV-14 | 89-0129 | Spirit of Georgia | The Dark Angel |
| AV-15 | 90-0040 | Spirit of Alaska | |
| AV-16 | 90-0041 | Spirit of Hawaii | |
| AV-17 | 92-0700 | Spirit of Florida | |
| AV-18 | 93-1085 | Spirit of Oklahoma | Spirit of San Francisco |
| AV-19 | 93-1086 | Spirit of Kitty Hawk | |
| AV-20 | 93-1087 | Spirit of Pennsylvania | Penny the Pig |
| AV-21 | 93-1088 | Spirit of Louisiana | |
| AV-22 – AV-165 | canceled |
References
- CNN - B-2 stealth bombers make combat debut - March 24, 1999
- FAS - B-2 Spirit - United States Nuclear Forces
- Air Force Link - Fact Sheet : B-2 Spirit
External links
- Home of America´s Bomber - The B-2 Spirit of Whiteman Air Force Base
- B-2 Spirit - Northrop Grumman
- Pentagon Operational Test and Evaluation 2003 Annual Report
- Globalsecurity.org profile of the B-2 Spirit
- B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber
Related content
Flying wing aircraft | Stealth aircraft | U.S. bomber aircraft 1980-1989
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