The aircraft was severely damaged by fire while on the ground and underwent 18 months of repairs in order to enable it to fly back to the mainland for more comprehensive repairs. Helplessness. ", "Crisis in Libya: U.S. bombs Qaddafi's airfields. [41] Dellums and Kasich, in particular, worked together from 1989 through the early 1990s to limit production to 21 aircraft, and were ultimately successful. ", "Semantic Designs Aligns with Northrop Grumman to Modernize B-2 Spirit Bomber Software Systems", "Northrop Grumman Adding Mobile Targets to B-2 Bomber Capabilities. [127] On 7 May 1999, a B-2 dropped five JDAMs on the Chinese Embassy, killing several staff. [109] Radars operating at a lower frequency band (S or L band) are able to detect and track certain stealth aircraft that have multiple control surfaces, like canards or vertical stabilizers, where the frequency wavelength can exceed a certain threshold and cause a resonant effect. According to the Huygens–Fresnel principle, even a very flat plate would still reflect radar waves, though much less than when a signal is bouncing at a right angle. ", "Flight Control Actuation System Integrator for the B-2 Spirit. Zenith Imprint, 1999. [124] Depot maintenance for the B-2 is accomplished by U.S. Air Force contractor support and managed at Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base. and S.P. ", "Questions about whether the US needs another $55 billion worth of bombers. Though designed originally as primarily a nuclear bomber, the B-2 was first used in combat dropping conventional, non-nuclear ordnance in the Kosovo War in 1999. B-2 Bomber: Status of Cost, Development, and Production. [125] The B-2 was the first aircraft to deploy GPS satellite-guided JDAM "smart bombs" in combat use in Kosovo. [122] The need for specialized hangars arose in 1998 when it was found that B-2s passing through Andersen Air Force Base did not have the climate-controlled environment maintenance operations required. ", "Questions about whether the US needs another $55 billion worth of bombers. [126] The use of JDAMs and precision-guided munitions effectively replaced the controversial tactic of carpet-bombing, which had been harshly criticized due to it causing indiscriminate civilian casualties in prior conflicts, such as the 1991 Gulf War. ", "How Russia Could Someday Shootdown an F-22, F-35 or B-2 Stealth Bomber", "VI - STEALTH AIRCRAFT: EAGLES AMONG SPARROWS? Also, the crew is trained to deal with the rigors of a 40-hour mission. This involved taking the best of what is available and giving it to the aircrew,” Mickelson said. Osprey formation during a recent test flight. [47], Some B-2 advocates argued that procuring twenty additional aircraft would save money because B-2s would be able to deeply penetrate anti-aircraft defenses and use low-cost, short-range attack weapons rather than expensive standoff weapons. However, in 1995, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and its Director of National Security Analysis, found that additional B-2s would reduce the cost of expended munitions by less than US$2 billion in 1995 dollars during the first two weeks of a conflict, in which the Air Force predicted bombers would make their greatest contribution; a small fraction of the US$26.8 billion (in 1995 dollars) life cycle cost that the CBO projected for an additional 20 B-2s.[48]. ", "B-2 Stealth Bomber To Carry New Nuclear Cruise Missile", Air Force Upgrades B-2 Stealth Bomber as Modern Air Defenses Advance, "Upgrade drags Stealth Bomber IT systems into the 90s. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. 2 internal bays for ordnance and payload with an official limit of 40,000 lb (18,000 kg); maximum estimated limit is 50,000 lb (23,000 kg). [98] The flight computer receives information on external conditions such as the aircraft's current air speed and angle of attack via pitot-static sensing plates, as opposed to traditional pitot tubes which would impair the aircraft's stealth capabilities. The B-2 Spirit’s stealth needs and unique mission meant that the airframe and the engineering behind it had to go above and beyond. "The B-2's Stealthy Skins Need Tender, Lengthy Care. Email This BlogThis! [86] In July 2009, Northrop Grumman reported the B-2 was compatible with the equipment necessary to deploy the 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which is intended to attack reinforced bunkers; up to two MOPs could be equipped in the B-2's bomb bays with one per bay,[87] the B-2 is the only platform compatible with the MOP as of 2012. Afterwards, it became the B-2 Spirit. [24], For the manufacturing, a former Ford automobile assembly plant in Pico Rivera, California, was acquired and heavily rebuilt; the plant's employees were sworn to complete secrecy regarding their work. Development started under the "Advanced Technology Bomber" (ATB) project during the Carter administration; its expected performance was one of the President's reasons for the cancellation of the Mach 2 capable B-1A bomber. [29], A procurement of 132 aircraft was planned in the mid-1980s, but was later reduced to 75. Troops from 82nd Airborne Division speak with Iraqi Federal Police members in Mosul, Iraq, June 29, 2017. [121][122] The hangars are built by American Spaceframe Fabricators Inc. and cost approximately US$5 million apiece. [81] The undersides are dark because it flies at high altitudes (50,000 ft (15,000 m)), and at that altitude a dark grey painting blends well into the sky. At the end of April 2019, for the first time in the 30-year history of the U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber program, video footage showing the cockpit of a Spirit stealth bomber was released by Dallas-based film producer Jeff Bolton.The historic video provided a rare glimpse into the cockpit of the U.S. Air Force B-2A flying with the 509th Bomb Wing out of Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. At the peak production period specified in 1989, the schedule called for spending US$7 billion to $8 billion per year in 1989 dollars, something Committee Chair Les Aspin (D-WI) said "won't fly financially". In addition, the B-2's terrain-following/terrain-avoidance radar had difficulty distinguishing rain from other obstacles, rendering the subsystem inoperable during rain. The B-2 is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defence shields. Good Evening All: I found this video on another aviation web site which has the first cockpit video I have ever seen of a B-2 Spirit in flight. The bomber's design was changed in the mid-1980s when the mission profile was changed from high-altitude to low-altitude, terrain-following. As of September 2013[update], there have been no instances of a missile being launched at a B-2. The U.S. Air Force reports its range as approximately 6,000 nautical miles (6,900 mi; 11,000 km). [7] During this war, six B-2s flew non-stop to Yugoslavia from their home base in Missouri and back, totaling 30 hours. "Pressure mounts as stealth bombers deployed". [141][142], On 18 January 2017, two B-2s attacked an ISIS training camp 19 miles (30 km) southwest of Sirte, Libya, killing around 85 militants. [140], On 28 March 2013, two B-2s flew a round trip of 13,000 miles (21,000 km) from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri to South Korea, dropping dummy ordnance on the Jik Do target range. [99] The flight actuation system incorporates both hydraulic and electrical servoactuated components, and it was designed with a high level of redundancy and fault-diagnostic capabilities. "Defense worker loses job over his ties to India". [64], Although the Air Force previously planned to operate the B-2 to 2058, their FY 2019 budget moved up its retirement to "no later than 2032". [100], Northrop had investigated several means of applying directional control that would infringe on the aircraft's radar profile as little as possible, eventually settling on a combination of split brake-rudders and differential thrust. In 1996, the General Accounting Office (GAO) disclosed that the USAF's B-2 bombers "will be, by far, the most costly bombers to operate on a per aircraft basis", costing over three times as much as the B-1B (US$9.6 million annually) and over four times as much as the B-52H (US$6.8 million annually). [88] This is to be followed by the Long Range Standoff Weapon which may give the B-2 a standoff nuclear capability for the first time. Development started under the "Advanced Technology Bomber" (ATB) project during the Carter administration; its expected performance was one of the President's reasons for the cancellation of the Mach 2 capable B-1A bomber. ", "Northrop Grumman Applies New Coating to Operational B-2.". "Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit". The aircraft is stealthy, except briefly when the bomb bay opens. An aircraft having radar stealth characteristics would be able to fly nearly undetected and could be attacked only by weapons and systems not relying on radar. ", "Schwartz Defends Cost of USAF's Next-Gen Bomber. [101] Four pairs of control surfaces are located along the wing's trailing edge; while most surfaces are used throughout the aircraft's flight envelope, the inner elevons are normally only in use at slow speeds, such as landing. [137][138], In August 2011, The New Yorker reported that prior to the May 2011 U.S. Special Operations raid into Abbottabad, Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials had considered an airstrike by one or more B-2s as an alternative; an airstrike was rejected because of damage to civilian buildings in the area from using a bunker busting bomb. The resulting cooler air is conducted over a surface composed of heat resistant carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer and titanium alloy elements, which disperse the air laterally, in order to accelerate its cooling. [65][107] The flying wing design most closely resembles a so-called infinite flat plate (as vertical control surfaces dramatically increase RCS), the perfect stealth shape, as it would lack angles to reflect back radar waves (initially, the shape of the Northrop ATB concept was flatter; it gradually increased in volume according to specific military requirements). [8], In 1974, DARPA requested information from U.S. aviation firms about the largest radar cross-section of an aircraft that would remain effectively invisible to radars. [7] The Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation 2003 Annual Report noted that the B-2's serviceability for Fiscal Year 2003 was still inadequate, mainly due to the maintainability of the B-2's low observable coatings. ", "Libya military operation: Who should command? [67] The B-2 stored in a $5 million specialised air-conditioned hangar to maintain its stealth coating. "B-2 Shelter System [B2SS] Extra Large Deployable Aircraft Hangar Systems (Formerly: B-2 Shelter Program)", "Portable B-2 bomber shelters are built ... in parts (officially) unknown", "JDAM continues to be warfighter's weapon of choice. "More Stealth Bombers Mean Less Combat Power". North Branch, Minnesota: Zenith Imprint, 2003. your own Pins on Pinterest Bender, Brian and John Robinson. Both during development and in service, considerable effort has been devoted to maintaining the security of the B-2's design and technologies. [78], The B-2, in the envisaged Cold War scenario, was to perform deep-penetrating nuclear strike missions, making use of its stealthy capabilities to avoid detection and interception throughout missions. In July 2008, the B-2's onboard computing architecture was extensively redesigned; it now incorporates a new integrated processing unit (IPU) that communicates with systems throughout the aircraft via a newly installed fiber optic network; a new version of the operational flight program software was also developed, with legacy code converted from the JOVIAL programming language to standard C.[50][51] Updates were also made to the weapon control systems to enable strikes upon moving targets, such as ground vehicles. [19] The Air Force originally planned to procure 165 of the ATB bomber. [4], The total program cost projected through 2004 was US$44.75 billion in 1997 dollars. The B-2 is the only acknowledged aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration. It later served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. The Anti-Radar Design Relies On A Complex Mix Of Materials. ", "Stealth bomber classified documents missing. Three B-2s dropped 40 bombs on a Libyan airfield in support of the UN no-fly zone. [47], Some B-2 advocates argued that procuring twenty additional aircraft would save money because B-2s would be able to deeply penetrate anti-aircraft defenses and use low-cost, short-range attack weapons rather than expensive standoff weapons. [139] There were also concerns an airstrike would make it difficult to positively identify Bin Laden's remains and so confirming his death would be difficult. The B-21 Raider is the first new Air Force bomber since 1988, the year the B-2A Spirit was unveiled. The majority of the B-2 is made out of a carbon-graphite composite material that is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and absorbs a significant amount of radar energy. [22], During its design and development, the Northrop B-2 program was a "black" project requiring a secret clearance for all program personnel before its revelation to the public. "Defense worker loses job over his ties to India". Goodall, James C. "The Northrop B-2A Stealth Bomber.". Pretty complex, huh? [106] The bomber does not always fly stealthily; when nearing air defenses pilots "stealth up" the B-2, a maneuver whose details are secret. [97] Due to the B-2's composite structure, it is required to stay 40 miles (64 km) away from thunderstorms, to avoid static discharge and lightning strikes. New images will be taken and uploaded as time and resources allow. [67], To reduce optical visibility during daylight flights, the B-2 is painted in an anti-reflective paint. [4], Because of its considerable capital and operating costs, the project was controversial in the U.S. Congress. [4] The B-2 may cost up to $135,000 per flight hour to operate in 2010, which is about twice that of the B-52 and B-1. [113][114], Some analysts claim infra-red search and track systems (IRSTs) can be deployed against stealth aircraft, because any aircraft surface heats up due to air friction and with a two channel IRST is a CO2 (4.3 µm absorption maxima) detection possible, through difference comparing between the low and high channel.[115][116]. It also moved retirement of the B-1 to 2036 while extending the B-52's service life into the 2050s, due to the latter's lower maintenance costs, versatile conventional payload, and ability to carry nuclear cruise missiles (which the B-1 is treaty-prohibited from doing). During the late 1980s and 1990s, Congress slashed plans to purchase 132 bombers to 21. [63] In 2014, the USAF outlined a series of upgrades including nuclear warfighting, a new integrated processing unit, the ability to carry cruise missiles, and threat warning improvements. [136] The B-2s flew directly from the U.S. mainland across the Atlantic Ocean to Libya; a B-2 was refueled by allied tanker aircraft four times during each round trip mission. Every seven years, this coating is carefully removed by being washed off with crystallised wheat starch so that the B-2's surfaces can be inspected for any dents or scratches. Hazard, Jeffrey T. Hunter, and James F. Dinwiddie. Designed during the Cold War, it is a flying wing design with a crew of two. [44], In time, a number of prominent members of Congress began to oppose the program's expansion, including later Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who cast votes against the B-2 in 1989, 1991 and 1992 while a U.S. No operational B-2s have been retired by the Air Force to be put on display. B-2 Spirit Cockpit Video. ", "B-2 radar modernization program contract awarded. A number of upgrade packages have been applied to the B-2. [16] The Northrop proposal was code named "Senior Ice" and the Lockheed proposal code named "Senior Peg". Glider. Depot maintenance responsibility for the B-2 is performed by Air Force contractor support and is managed at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla. [14], The Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) program began in 1979. [36] An August 1995 GAO report disclosed that the B-2 had trouble operating in heavy rain, as this rain could damage the aircraft's stealth coating, causing procurement delays until an adequate protective coating could be found. [92], For safety and fault-detection purposes, an on-board test system is linked with the majority of avionics on the B-2 to continuously monitor the performance and status of thousands of components and consumables; it also provides post-mission servicing instructions for ground crews. ", "Pentagon Wants Unmanned Stealth Bomber to Replace B-2. An aircraft having radar stealth characteristics would be able to fly nearly undetected and could be attacked only by weapons and systems not relying on radar. [16] After the evaluations of the companies' proposals, the ATB competition was narrowed to the Northrop/Boeing and Lockheed/Rockwell teams with each receiving a study contract for further work. [126] The use of JDAMs and precision-guided munitions effectively replaced the controversial tactic of carpet-bombing, which had been harshly criticized due to it causing indiscriminate civilian casualties in prior conflicts, such as the 1991 Gulf War. [148] The cause of the crash was later determined to be moisture in the aircraft's Port Transducer Units during air data calibration, which distorted the information being sent to the bomber's air data system. ", "B-2 Stealth Bomber To Carry New Nuclear Cruise Missile", Air Force Upgrades B-2 Stealth Bomber as Modern Air Defenses Advance, "Upgrade drags Stealth Bomber IT systems into the 90s. [17] Northrop had prior experience developing the YB-35 and YB-49 flying wing aircraft. [58], It was reported in 2011 that the Pentagon was evaluating an unmanned stealth bomber, characterized as a "mini-B-2", as a potential replacement in the near future. [79][83] The B-2 features a sophisticated GPS-Aided Targeting System (GATS) that uses the aircraft's APQ-181 synthetic aperture radar to map out targets prior to deployment of GPS-aided bombs (GAMs), later superseded by the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). ", B-2 Stealth Bomber article on How It Works Daily, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit&oldid=1000780284, High-altitude and long endurance aircraft, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2012, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2018, Articles containing potentially dated statements from September 2013, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit flying over the Pacific Ocean in May 2006. This page was last edited on 16 January 2021, at 17:55. 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