Two of the most stealth aircraft in the world - B-2 Spirit nuclear-capable bombers and F-22
Raptor fighter jets have now together completed a first-of-its-kind training exercise.
B-2 Spirit stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri have flown to Joint
Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on the island of Oahu, Hawaii and made it their new home.
The B-2s have till now operated only from 4 bases - Whiteman AFB in Missouri, Andersen
AFB on Guam, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom.
F-22 Raptor fighter jets from the Hawaii Air National Guard have joint the B 2s for several
training missions in the region.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes how U.S military plans to deploy B 2 Spirit & F
22 Raptor with new tactics in Indo Pacific to counter China?
Let's get into the details.
The training comes at a time when it is evident that China increasingly using its military
to dominate the South China Sea and push the U.S out.
A recent example is the harassment of USS DECATUR.
To know more, please check the video on the above card.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea.
This is a major dispute since Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines as well
as Vietnam also have competing claims on certain parts of the South China Sea.
China has tried imposing a unilateral decision, as per which all ships entering these waters
need to identify itself to the Chinese Military.
United States, Japan, Australia, and India favor ‘freedom of navigation’.
Viewers may note that the sea route is very important since 1/2 of the global merchant
shipping and 1/2 of world’s oil shipment pass through it.
The sea is thought to have 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet
of natural gas.
China has reclaimed a lot of lands artificially.
It has constructed military airfields and hangers as well as deployed Anti Ship and
Air to Surface missiles.
Large bases are prime targets for preemptive strikes and even stealth aircraft like B 2
& F 22 are vulnerable while sitting on the ground at a well-known base.
Keeping that in view, in recent times US Air Force is perfecting strategy to disperse its assets.
Going forward, these jets will increasingly operate from smaller and more discrete bases.
B 2 have used a smaller base on a coral limestone atoll in the mid-Pacific called Wake Island
instead of taking off and landing Pearl Harbor.
It has also implemented 'hot reloading’, in which fuel & weapons are replenished without
the engines being stopped.
This reduces the time on the ground with quick turnarounds and also increase the sortie rate.
In a similar move, few F-22s from 380th Air Expeditionary Wing at Al Dhafra Air Base in
the UAE were deployed in a discrete base in the Middle East for possible intervention
in Syrian front.
This is the implementation of Rapid Raptor concept as per which F 22s will have the ability
to be deployed anywhere in the world within just 72 hours and operate from bases with
limited infrastructure.
The B-2 Spirit was developed to take over the United States Air Force’s (USAF) vital
penetration missions, able to travel deep into enemy territory to deploy their ordnance,
which could include nuclear weapons.
The B-2 is a flying wing aircraft, meaning it has no fuselage or tail.
The blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large
payload makes B 2 Spirit the most potent bomber in the world.
Even after around two decades from its introduction on 1 January 1997, there is still nothing to match it.
B2’s range of approximately 6,900 miles or 11,000 km gives it the capability to strike
mainland China.
B2 has an excellent payload that makes even a single one to be extremely destructive.
It has 2 internal bays for ordnance and payload with an official limit of 40,000 lb (18,000
kg) and maximum estimated limit of 50,000 lb (23,000 kg).
Apart from different types of conventional bombs, B 2 can carry 16× B61 or B83 nuclear
bombs on Rotary Launcher Assembly (RLA).
The B61 is a variable yield, kiloton-range weapon.
Tactical versions (Mods 3, 4, and 10) can be set to 0.3, 1.5, 5, 10, 45, 60, 80, or 170 kiloton explosive yield.
The strategic version (B61 Mod 7) has 4 yield options, with a maximum of 340 kilotons.
B 83 is the most powerful free-fall nuclear weapon in the United States arsenal
with a maximum yield of 1.2 megatons of TNT.
To give viewer a perspective, Little Boy atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of 15 kt of TNT and
Fat Man atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki had a yield of 21 kt of TNT.
F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation, single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical
fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force by defense major Lockheed Martin.
F 22 program is one of the most technically challenging and costly programs to have been ever undertaken.
The F-22 still cannot be exported under American federal law to protect its stealth technology
& other high-tech features clearly indicating that it has many closely guarded secrets.
F 22 Raptor is the first operational aircraft to combine super-cruise and super-maneuverability.
Supercruise is the ability to have sustained supersonic flight without having to use the
highly inefficient afterburners given the Raptor ability to pursue targets with high
speed and long ranges.
F 22 incorporates super-maneuverability which makes it a capable dogfighter.
Its maneuverability is at the top of the stack and is demonstrated by its ability to pull
off Pugachev’s Cobra maneuver.
The Raptor has AN/APG-77 radar which is still the best radar to be mounted on a fighter.
The AN/APG-77 radar features a low-observable, active-aperture, electronically scanned array
that can track multiple targets under any weather conditions.
It has a range of around 400 km against 1 m2 target.
This radar can also be used for electronic-attack by focussing its signals on the enemy to overload
their sensors.
The radar changes frequencies more than 1,000 times per second to resist jamming
F 22 Raptor is developed from grounds up to be stealthy.
F22 is the stealthiest fighter ever build & has very low Radar Cross Section (RCS) of
only 0.0001 m2.
Stealth is very difficult to achieve.
China has found it very hard to perfect even today
Reports have emerged that a Sukhoi Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force managed to detect
the Chinese Chengdu J-20 jet fighter which is touted to be a stealth aircraft.
Chinese military assets in the South China Sea are designed for Anti Access & Area Denial.
But with B 2 Spirit & F 22 Raptor, US can penetrate these defenses and strike back.
B 2 Spirit & F 22 Raptor deployment in Indo-Pacific is also about sending a message to China that
the U.S is not backing down.