why no nation wants to destroy the b-2 bomber
the northrop grumman also known as the stealth bomber is an american heavy penetration strategic
bomber featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense
anti-aircraft defenses it is a flying wing designed with a crew of two the bomber can
deploy both conventional and thermonuclear weapons such as 80 500 pound or 230 kilogram class mk 82
jdem global positioning system guided bombs or 16 2400 pounds or 1100 kilograms b83 nuclear bombs
the b2 is the only acknowledged aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons
in a stealth configuration development originally started under the advanced technology bomber or
atb project during the carter administration its expected performance was one of his reasons for
the cancellation of the supersonic b1a bomber the atb project continued during the reagan
administration but worries about delays in its introduction led to the reinstatement of the
b1 program as well program costs rose throughout development designed and manufactured by northrup
later northrop grumman the cost of each aircraft averaged 737 million us dollars
the b2 is capable of all altitude attack missions up to fifty thousand feet or fifteen thousand
meters with a range of more than 6 000 nautical miles 6 900 miles 11 000 kilometers on internal
fuel and over 10 000 nautical miles 12 000 miles 19 000 kilometers with one mid air refueling
it entered service in 1997 as the second aircraft designed to have advanced stealth technology
after the lockheed f-117 nighthawk attack aircraft because of its considerable capital and operating
costs the project was controversial in the us congress and among the joint chiefs of staff the
winding down of the cold war in the latter portion of the 1980s dramatically reduced the need for the
aircraft which was designed with the intention of penetrating soviet airspace and attacking
high-value targets during the late 1980s and 1990s congress slashed plans to purchase 132 bombers
to 21. in 2008 a b-2 was destroyed in a crash shortly after takeoff and the crew ejected safely
origin
in the mid-1970s the search for a new u.s strategic bomber to replace the boeing b-52
stratofortress was underway to no avail first the b-70 and then the b-1a were canceled after
only a few of each aircraft were built the b-70 was intended to fly above and beyond defensive
interceptor aircraft only to find these same attributes made it especially vulnerable to
surface-to-air missiles or sams the b-1 attempted to avoid sams by flying close to the ground to use
terrain to mask its radar signature only to face a new generation of interceptors with look down
shoot down capabilities that could attack them from above by the mid-1970s it was becoming clear
that there was a different way to avoid missiles and intercepts known today as stealth the concept
was to build an aircraft with an airframe that deflected or absorbed radar signals so that little
was reflected back to the radar unit an aircraft having stealth characteristics would be able
to fly nearly undetected and could be attacked only by weapons and systems not relying on radar
although such possibilities existed such as human observation their relatively short
detection range allowed most aircraft to fly undetected by defenses especially at night
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
initially northrup and mcdonnell douglas were selected for further development
lockheed had experience in this field due to developing the lockheed a12 and
sr-71 which included a number of stealthy features notably its canted vertical stabilizers the use
of composite materials in key locations and the overall surface finish in radar absorbing paint
opposition in its consideration of the fiscal year 1990 defense budget the house armed services
committee trimmed 800 million dollars from the b2 research and development budget while at the same
time staving off a motion to end the project opposition in committee and in congress was
mostly broad and bipartisan with congressman ron dellums democrat california john kasich republican
ohio and john g rolland republican connecticut authorizing the motion to end the project others
in the senate such as jim exxon democrat nebraska and john mccain republican arizona also opposing
the project the escalating cost of the b-2 program and evidence of flaws in the aircraft's ability
to elude detection by radar were among factors that drove opposition to continue the program
at the peak production period specified in 1989 the schedule called for spending seven billion
us dollars to eight billion dollars per year in nineteen eighty nine dollars something committee
chair les aspen democrat wisconsin said won't fly financially in 1990 the department of defense
accused northrop of using faulty components in a flight control system the threat posed by bird
ingestion potentially damaging engine fan blades also required redesigning some b2 advocates argued
that procuring 20 additional aircraft would save money because b2s 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 b2s would reduce the cost of expended munitions by less than
two billion dollars 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 26.8 billion
us dollars in 1995 life cycle cost that the cbo projected an additional 20 b2s would cost
avionics and systems
in order to make the b2 more effective than any previous bomber it has integrated many advanced
and modern avionic systems into its design these have been modified and improved in light of the
switch to conventional warfare missions the b2 features the low probability of intercept
and apq-181 multi-mode radar a fully digital navigation system that is integrated with
terrain following radar and global positioning system gps guidance and a defensive management
system dms to inform the flight crew against possible threats the onboard dms is capable of
automatically assessing the detection capabilities of identified threats and indicated targets
for safety and fault detection purposes an onboard test system is interlinked with the majority of
avionics on the b2 to continuously monitor the performance and status of thousands of components
and consumables it also provides post-mission servicing instructions for ground crews
in 2008 many of the standalone distributed computers on board the b2 including the
primary flight management computer were being replaced by a single integrated system
flight controls
in order to address the inherent flight instability of a flying wing aircraft
the b2 uses a complex quadruplex computer controlled fly-by-wire flight control system
that can automatically manipulate flight surfaces and settings without direct pilot inputs in order
to maintain aircraft stability the flight computer receives information on external condition such
as the aircraft's current airspeed and angle of attack via pitted static sensing plates as opposed
to traditional pitted tubes which would negatively affect the aircraft's stealth capabilities
the flight actuation system incorporates both hydraulic and electrical servo actuated components
and it was designed with a high level of redundancy and fault diagnostic capabilities
northrop had investigated several means of applying directional control that would least
infringe on the aircraft's radar profile eventually settling on a combination of
split brake routers and differential thrust engine thrust became a key element of the
b2's aerodynamic design process early on thrust not only affects drag and lift but
pitching and rolling motions as well 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
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