The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American strategic bomber,
featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft
defenses; it is able to deploy both conventional and nuclear weapons. The bomber has a crew
of two and can drop up to eighty 500 lb-class JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400 lb
B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff
weapons in a stealth configuration. Development originally started under the "Advanced
Technology Bomber" project during the Carter administration, and its performance was one
of his reasons for the cancellation of the supersonic Rockwell B-1 Lancer. ATB continued
during the Reagan administration, but worries about delays in its introduction led to the
reinstatement of the B-1 program as well. Program costs rose throughout development.
Designed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman with assistance from Boeing, the cost of each
aircraft averaged US$737 million. Total procurement costs averaged $929 million per aircraft,
which includes spare parts, equipment, retrofitting, and software support. The total program cost
including development, engineering and testing, averaged $2.1 billion per aircraft in 1997.
Because of its considerable capital and operating costs, the project was controversial in the
U.S. 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.
A total of 20 B-2s remain in service with the United States Air Force, who plan to operate
the B-2 until 2058. The B-2 is capable of all-altitude attack
missions up to 50,000 feet, with a range of more than 6,000 nautical miles unrefuelled
and over 10,000 nautical miles with one refueling. Though originally designed primarily as a
nuclear bomber, it was first used in combat to drop conventional bombs on Serbia during
the Kosovo War in 1999, and saw continued use during the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
Development Origins
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 prototypes 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. 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,
Northrop and McDonnell Douglas were selected for further development. Lockheed had experience
in this field due to developing the Lockheed A-12 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. A key improvement
was the introduction of computer models used to predict the radar reflections from flat
surfaces where collected data drove the design of a "faceted" aircraft. Development of the
first such designs started in 1975 with "the hopeless diamond", a model Lockheed built
to test the concept. Plans were well advanced by the summer of
1975, when DARPA started the Experimental Survivability Testbed project. Northrop and
Lockheed were awarded contracts in the first round of testing. Lockheed received the sole
award for the second test round in April 1976 leading to the Have Blue program.
ATB program By 1976, these programs progressed to where
a long-range strategic stealth bomber appeared viable. President Carter was aware of these
developments during 1977, and it appears to have been one of the major reasons the B-1
was canceled. Further studies were ordered in early 1978, by which point the Have Blue
platform had flown and proven the concepts. During the 1980 presidential election in 1979,
Ronald Reagan repeatedly stated that Carter was weak on defense, and used the B-1 as a
prime example. In return, on 22 August 1980, the Carter administration publicly disclosed
that the United States Department of Defense was working to develop stealth aircraft, including
a bomber.
The Advanced Technology Bomber began in 1979. Full development of the black project followed,
and was funded under the code name "Aurora". 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. Both teams used flying wing designs. Northrop had prior
experience developing the YB-35 and YB-49 flying wing aircraft. The Northrop design
was larger while the Lockheed design included a small tail. In 1979, designer Hal Markarian
produced a sketch of the aircraft, that bore considerable similarities to the final design.
The Air Force originally planned to procure 165 of the ATB bomber.
The Northrop/Boeing team's ATB design was selected over the Lockheed/Rockwell design
on 20 October 1981. The Northrop design received the designation B-2 and the name "Spirit".
The bomber's design was changed in the mid-1980s when the mission profile was changed from
high-altitude to low-altitude, terrain-following. The redesign delayed the B-2's first flight
by two years and added about US$1 billion to the program's cost. An estimated US$23 billion
was secretly spent for research and development on the B-2 by 1989. MIT engineers and scientists
helped assess the mission effectiveness of the aircraft under a five-year classified
contract during the 1980s. Secrecy and espionage
Both during development and in service, there has been considerable importance placed to
the security of the B-2 and its technologies. Staff working on the B-2 in most, if not all,
capacities have to achieve a level of special-access clearance, and undergo extensive background
checks carried out by a special branch of the Air Force.
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. To avoid the possibility of suspicion, components were typically purchased through
front companies, military officials would visit out of uniform, and staff members were
routinely subjected to polygraph examinations. The secrecy extended so far that access to
nearly all information on the program by both Government Accountability Office and virtually
all members of Congress itself was severely limited until mid-1980s.
In 1984, a Northrop employee, Thomas Cavanaugh was arrested for attempting to sell classified
information to the Soviet Union; the information was taken from Northrop's Pico Rivera, California
factory. Cavanaugh was eventually sentenced to life in prison and released on parole in
2001. The B-2 was first publicly displayed on 22
November 1988 at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, where it was assembled. This viewing
was heavily restricted, and guests were not allowed to see the rear of the B-2. However,
Aviation Week editors found that there were no airspace restrictions above the presentation
area and took photographs of the aircraft's then-secret planform and suppressed engine
exhausts from the air, to the USAF's disappointment. The B-2's first public flight was on 17 July
1989 from Palmdale to Edwards AFB. In October 2005, Noshir Gowadia, a design
engineer who worked on the B-2's propulsion system, was arrested for selling B-2 related
classified information to foreign countries. On 9 August 2010, Gowadia was convicted in
the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii on 14 of 17 charges against him.
On 24 January 2011, Gowadia was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Program costs and procurement A procurement of 132 aircraft was planned
in the mid-1980s, but was later reduced to 75. By the early 1990s, the Soviet Union dissolved,
effectively eliminating the Spirit's primary Cold War mission. Under budgetary pressures
and Congressional opposition, in his 1992 State of the Union Address, President George
H.W. Bush announced B-2 production would be limited to 20 aircraft. In 1996, however,
the Clinton administration, though originally committed to ending production of the bombers
at 20 aircraft, authorized the conversion of a 21st bomber, a prototype test model,
to Block 30 fully operational status at a cost of nearly $500 million.
In 1995, Northrop made a proposal to the USAF to build 20 additional aircraft with a flyaway
cost of $566 million each. The program was the subject of public controversy
for its cost to American taxpayers. In 1996, the General Accounting Office 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 and over four times as much as the
B-52H. In September 1997, each hour of B-2 flight necessitated 119 hours of maintenance
in turn. Comparable maintenance needs for the B-52 and the B-1B are 53 and 60 hours
respectively for each hour of flight. A key reason for this cost is the provision of air-conditioned
hangars large enough for the bomber's 172 ft wingspan, which are needed to maintain the
aircraft's stealthy properties, particularly its "low-observable" stealthy skins. Maintenance
costs are about $3.4 million a month for each aircraft.
The total "military construction" cost related to the program was projected to be US$553.6 million
in 1997 dollars. The cost to procure each B-2 was US$737 million in 1997 dollars, based
only on a fleet cost of US$15.48 billion. The procurement cost per aircraft as detailed
in GAO reports, which include spare parts and software support, was $929 million per
aircraft in 1997 dollars. The total program cost projected through 2004
was US$44.75 billion in 1997 dollars. This includes development, procurement, facilities,
construction, and spare parts. The total program cost averaged US$2.13 billion per aircraft.
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. Opposition
In its consideration of the fiscal year 1990 defense budget, the House Armed Services Committee
trimmed $800 million from the B-2 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 Congressmen Ron Dellums, John Kasich, and John G. Rowland
authorizing the motion to end the project, others in the Senate, such as Jim Exon and
John McCain, 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 US$7 billion to $8 billion per year in 1989 dollars, something
Committee Chair Les Aspin said "won't fly financially." In 1990, the Department of Defense
accused Northrop of using faulty components in the flight control system; the threat posed
by bird ingestion potentially damaging engine fan blades also required redesigning.
In time, a number of prominent members of Congress began to oppose the program's expansion,
including former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who cast votes against the B-2
in 1989, 1991 and 1992 while a U.S. Senator, representing Massachusetts. By 1992, Republican
President George H.W. Bush called for the cancellation of the B-2 and promised to cut
military spending by 30% in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In October 1995,
former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, General Mike Ryan, and former Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Shalikashvili, strongly recommended against
Congressional action to fund the purchase of any additional B-2s, arguing that to do
so would require unacceptable cuts in existing conventional and nuclear-capable aircraft,
and that the military had greater priorities in spending a limited budget.
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, 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 life cycle cost that
the CBO projected an additional 20 B-2s would cost.
In 1997, as Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and National Security Committee,
Congressman Ron Dellums, a long-time opponent of the bomber, cited five independent studies
and offered an amendment to that year's defense authorization bill to cap production of the
bombers to the existing 21 aircraft; the amendment was narrowly defeated. Nonetheless, Congress
did not approve funding for the purchase of any additional B-2 bombers.
Further developments A number of upgrade packages have been applied
to the B-2. In July 2008, the B-2's onboard computing architecture was extensively redesigned;
it now incorporates a new integrated processing unit that communicates with systems throughout
the aircraft via a newly installed fibre optic network; a new version of the operational
flight program software was also developed, with legacy code converted from the JOVIAL
programming language used beforehand to standard C. Updates were also made to the weapon control
systems to enable strikes upon non-static targets, such as moving ground vehicles.
On 29 December 2008, Air Force officials awarded a US$468 million contract to Northrop Grumman
to modernize the B-2 fleet's radars. Changing the radar's frequency was required as the
U.S. Department of Commerce has sold that radio spectrum to another operator. In July
2009, it was reported that the B-2 had successfully passed a major USAF audit. In 2010, it was
made public that the Air Force Research Laboratory had developed a new material to be used on
the part of the wing trailing edge subject to engine exhaust, replacing existing material
that quickly degraded. In 2013 the USAF contracted for the Defensive
Management System Modernization program to replace the antenna system and other electronics
to increase the B-2's frequency awareness. In July 2010, political analyst Rebecca Grant
speculated that when the B-2 becomes unable to reliably penetrate enemy defenses, the
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II may take on its strike/interdiction mission, carrying
B61 nuclear bombs as a tactical bomber. However, in March 2012, the Pentagon announced that
a $2 billion, 10-year-long modernization of the B-2 fleet was to begin. The main area
of improvement would be replacement of outdated avionics and equipment.
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. In 2012, Air
Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz stated the B-2's 1980s-era stealth would make
it less survivable in future contested airspaces, so the USAF is to proceed with the Next-Generation
Bomber despite overall budget cuts. The Next-Generation Bomber was estimated, in 2012, to have a projected
overall cost of $55 billion. The Common Very Low Frequency Receiver upgrade
will allow the B-2s to use the same Very low frequency transmissions as the SSBNs so as
to continue in the nuclear mission until the Mobile User Objective System is fielded.
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.
Design Overview
The B-2 Spirit was developed to take over the USAF's 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 gives the B-2
significant advantages over previous bombers. Low observability provides a greater freedom
of action at high altitudes, thus increasing both range and field of view for onboard sensors.
The U.S. Air Force reports its range as approximately 6,000 nautical miles. At cruising altitude
the B-2 refuels every six hours, taking on up to 50 short tons of fuel at a time.
Due to the aircraft's complex flight characteristics and design requirements to maintain very-low
visibility to multiple means of detection, both the development and construction of the
B-2 required pioneering use of computer-aided design and manufacturing technologies. Northrop
Grumman is the B-2's prime contractor; other contributing subcontractors include Boeing,
Raytheon, G.E. and Vought Aircraft. The B-2 bears a resemblance to earlier Northrop aircraft:
the YB-35 and YB-49 were both flying wing bombers that had been canceled in development
in the early 1950s, allegedly for political reasons. The resemblance goes as far as B-2
and YB-49 having the same wingspan. As of September 2013 about 80 pilots fly the
B-2. Each aircraft has a crew of two, a pilot in the left seat and mission commander in
the right, and has provisions for a third crew member if needed. For comparison, the
B-1B has a crew of four and the B-52 has a crew of five. The B-2 is highly automated
and, unlike most two-seat aircraft, one crew member can sleep in a camp bed, use a toilet,
or prepare a hot meal while the other monitors the aircraft; extensive sleep cycle and fatigue
research was conducted to improve crew performance on long sorties.
Armaments and equipment
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. There are two internal bomb bays in which munitions are stored either on a
rotary launcher or two bomb-racks; the carriage of the weapons loadouts internally results
in less radar visibility than external mounting of munitions. Nuclear ordnance includes the
B61 and B83 nuclear bombs; the AGM-129 ACM cruise missile was also intended for use on
the B-2 platform. It was decided, in light of the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, to equip the B-2 for conventional precision attacks as well as
for the strategic role of nuclear-strike. The B-2 features a sophisticated GPS-Aided
Targeting System that uses the aircraft's APQ-181 synthetic aperture radar to map out
targets prior to deployment of GPS-aided bombs, later superseded by the Joint Direct Attack
Munition. In the B-2's original configuration, up to 16 GAMs or JDAMs could be deployed;
an upgrade program in 2004 raised the maximum carriable capacity to 80 JDAMs.
The B-2 has various conventional weapons in its arsenal, able to equip Mark 82 and Mark
84 bombs, CBU-87 Combined Effects Munitions, GATOR mines, and the CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon.
In July 2009, Northrop Grumman reported the B-2 was compatible with the equipment necessary
to deploy the 30,000 lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which is intended to attack reinforced
bunkers; up to two MOPs could be equipped in the B-2's bomb bays, the B-2 is the only
platform compatible with the MOP as of 2012. As of 2011, the AGM-158 JASSM cruise missile
is an upcoming standoff munition to be deployed on the B-2 and other platforms. 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. Avionics and systems
In order to make the B-2 more effective than any previous bomber, it has integrated many
advanced and modern avionics systems into its design, these have been modified and improved
in light of the switch to conventional warfare missions. The B-2 features the low probability
of intercept AN/APQ-181 multi-mode radar, a fully digital navigation system that is
integrated with terrain-following radar and Global Positioning System guidance, and a
Defensive Management System 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 on-board test system is interlinked 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. In 2008, many of the standalone distributed computers on board the B-2, including the
primary flight management computer, were being replaced by a single integrated system.
In addition to periodic software upgrades and the introduction of new radar-absorbent
materials across the fleet, the B-2 has had several major upgrades to its avionics and
combat systems. For battlefield communications, both Link-16 and a high frequency satellite
link have been installed, compatibility with various new munitions has been undertaken,
and the AN/APQ-181 radar's operational frequency was shifted in order to avoid interference
with other operator's equipment. The upgraded radar features entirely replaced arrays by
those of a newer design, the AN/APQ-181 is now an Active Electronically Scanned Array
radar. Flight controls
In order to address the inherent flight instability of a flying wing aircraft, the B-2 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 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 negatively affect the aircraft's stealth capabilities.
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.
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-rudders and differential thrust. Engine thrust became a key element of the B-2'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. To avoid potential contact damage during takeoff
and to provide a nose-down pitching attitude, all of the elevons remain drooped during takeoff
until a high enough airspeed has been attained. Stealth
Its low-observable, or "stealth", characteristics enable the undetected penetration of sophisticated
anti-aircraft defenses and to attack even heavily defended targets. This stealth comes
from a combination of reduced acoustic, infrared, visual and radar signatures to evade the various
detection systems that could be used to detect and be used to direct attacks against an aircraft.
The majority of the B-2 is made out of a carbon-graphite composite material that is stronger than steel
and lighter than aluminum. Perhaps most crucially, it also absorbs a significant amount of radar
energy; reportedly, the B-2 has a radar signature of about 0.1 m2. The bomber does not always
fly stealthily; when nearing air defenses pilots "stealth up" the B-2, the details of
which are secret. The aircraft disappears from radar, except briefly when the bomb bay
opens. The bomber remains vulnerable, however, to visual interception by fighters. No missile
has ever been fired at a B-2 as of September 2013.
In contrast to the flat surfaces of the earlier F-117 Nighthawk, the B-2 is composed of many
curved and rounded surfaces across its exposed airframe to deflect radar beams. Additional
reduction in its radar signature was achieved by the use of various radar-absorbent materials
to absorb and neutralize radar beams. The B-2's clean, low-drag flying wing configuration
not only gives it exceptional range but is also beneficial to reducing its radar profile.
The B-2 is assembled with unusually tight tolerances to avoid leaks as they could increase
its radar signature. Another design feature is the placement of
the engines, which are buried within the B-2's wing to conceal the engines' fans and minimize
thermal visibility of the exhaust. The original design had tanks for a contrail-inhibiting
chemical, but this was replaced in production aircraft by a contrail sensor that alerts
the crew when they should change altitude. To reduce optical visibility during daylight
operations, the B-2 is painted in an anti-reflective paint.
Innovations such as alternate high-frequency material and automated material application
methods were also incorporated into the aircraft to enhance its radar-absorbent properties
and lower maintenance requirements. In early 2004, Northrop Grumman began applying a newly
developed AHFM to operational B-2s. In order to protect the operational integrity of its
sophisticated radar absorbent material and coatings, each B-2 is kept inside a climate-controlled
hangar large enough to accommodate its 172-foot wingspan.
Operational history
The first operational aircraft, christened Spirit of Missouri, was delivered to Whiteman
Air Force Base, Missouri, where the fleet is based, on 17 December 1993. The B-2 reached
initial operational capability on 1 January 1997. 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. Originally designed to deliver nuclear weapons, modern usage has shifted
towards a flexible role with conventional and nuclear capability.
The B-2's combat debut was in 1999, during the Kosovo War. It was responsible for destroying
33% of selected Serbian bombing targets in the first eight weeks of U.S. involvement
in the War. During this war, B-2s flew non-stop to Kosovo from their home base in Missouri
and back. The B-2 was the first aircraft to deploy GPS satellite-guided JDAM "smart bombs"
in combat use in Kosovo. The use of JDAMs and precision-guided munitions effectively
replaced the controversial tactic of carpet-bombing, which had been harshly criticised due to it
causing indiscriminate civilian casualties in prior conflicts, such as the 1991 Gulf
War. On 7 May 1999, a B-2 dropped five JDAMs on a target building that was actually the
Chinese Embassy, killing several staff. The B-2 saw service in Afghanistan, striking
ground targets in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. With aerial refueling support, the
B-2 flew one of its longest missions to date from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri to
Afghanistan and back. B-2s would be stationed in the Middle East as a part of a US military
buildup in the region from 2003. The B-2's combat use preceded a U.S. Air Force
declaration of "full operational capability" in December 2003. 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. The evaluation also noted that the Defensive Avionics suite also had shortcomings
with "pop-up threats". During the Iraq War, B-2s operated from Diego
Garcia and an undisclosed "forward operating location". Other sorties in Iraq have launched
from Whiteman AFB. As of September 2013 the longest combat mission has been 44.3 hours.
"Forward operating locations" have been previously designated as Andersen Air Force Base in Guam
and RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, where new climate controlled hangars have been constructed.
B-2s have conducted 27 sorties from Whiteman AFB and 22 sorties from a forward operating
location, releasing more than 1,500,000 pounds of munitions, including 583 JDAM "smart bombs"
in 2003. In response to organizational issues and high-profile
mistakes made within the Air Force, all of the B-2s, along with the nuclear-capable B-52s
and the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missiles, were transferred to the newly formed
Air Force Global Strike Command on 1 February 2010.
In March 2011, B-2s were the first U.S. aircraft into action in Operation Odyssey Dawn, the
UN mandated enforcement of the Libyan no-fly zone. Three B-2s dropped 40 bombs on a Libyan
airfield in support of the UN no-fly zone. 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. In August 2011, The New Yorker reported that
prior to the May 2011 U.S. special forces 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. There were also concerns an airstrike would
make it difficult to positively identify Bin Laden's remains and so concluding he was in
fact dead would be difficult. On 28 March 2013, two B-2s flew a round trip
of 13,000 miles from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri to South Korea, dropping dummy
ordnance on the Jik Do target range. The mission, part of the annual South Korean–United States
military exercises, was the first time that B-2s overflew the Korean peninsula. Tensions
between North and South Korea were high during and after the exercise, North Korea protested
against the participation of the B-2s and made threats of retaliatory nuclear strikes
against South Korea and the United States. Operators
United States Air Force Global Strike Command
509th Bomb Wing - Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri
13th Bomb Squadron 2005- 325th Bomb Squadron 1998-2005
393d Bomb Squadron 1993- 394th Combat Training Squadron 1996-
Air Combat Command 53d Wing - Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
72d Test and Evaluation Squadron 1998-
57th Wing - Nellis AFB, Nevada
325th Weapons Squadron 2005- 715th Weapons Squadron 2003-05
Air National Guard 131st Bomb Wing - Whiteman Air Force Base
2009-
110th Bomb Squadron
Air Force Materiel Command 412th Test Wing - Edwards Air Force Base,
California
419th Flight Test Squadron 1997- 420th Flight Test Squadron 1992-97
Air Force Systems Command 6510th Test Wing - Edwards AFB 1989-92
6520th Flight Test Squadron
Accidents
On 23 February 2008, B-2 Spirit of Kansas, 89-0127 crashed on the runway shortly after
takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Spirit of Kansas had been operated by the
393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and had logged 5,176
flight hours. It was the first crash of a B-2. The two person crew ejected safely from
the aircraft and survived the crash. The aircraft was completely destroyed, a hull loss valued
at US$1.4 billion. After the accident, the Air Force took the B-2 fleet off operational
status until clearing the fleet for flight status 53 days later on 15 April 2008. 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. As a result, the flight control computers calculated an inaccurate airspeed,
and a negative angle of attack, causing the aircraft to pitch upward 30 degrees during
takeoff. In February 2010, another serious incident
involving a B-2 occurred at Andersen AFB. The aircraft involved was AV-11 Spirit of
Washington. The aircraft was severely damaged by fire while on the ground and underwent
18 months of temporary repairs in order to enable it to fly back to the mainland for
more comprehensive repairs. Spirit of Washington was repaired and returned to service in December
2013. At the time of the accident the USAF had no training to deal with tailpipe fires
on the B-2s. Aircraft on display
No operational B-2s have been retired by the Air Force to be put on display. B-2s have
made periodic appearances on ground display at various air shows.
B-2 test article, the second of two built without engines or instruments for static
testing, was placed on display in 2004 at the National Museum of the United States Air
Force near Dayton, Ohio. The test article passed all structural testing requirements
before the airframe failed. The Museum's restoration team spent over a year reassembling the fractured
airframe. The display airframe is marked to resemble The Spirit of Ohio, the B-2 used
to test the design's ability to withstand extreme heat and cold. The exhibit features
Spirit of Ohio's nose wheel door, with its Fire and Ice artwork, which was painted and
signed by the technicians who performed the temperature testing. The restored test aircraft
is on display in the museum's "Cold War Gallery". From 1989 to 2004, the South Dakota Air and
Space Museum located on the grounds of Ellsworth Air Force Base displayed the 10-short-ton
"Honda- Stealth", a 60% scale mock-up of a stealthy bomber which had been built by North
American Honda in 1988 for an advertising campaign. Honda donated the model to the museum
in 1989, on condition that the model be destroyed if it was ever replaced with a different example.
The museum received a B-1 Lancer for display in 2005 and destroyed the mock-up.
Specifications
Data from USAF Fact Sheet, Pace, Spick General characteristics
Crew: 2: pilot and commander Length: 69 ft
Wingspan: 172 ft Height: 17 ft
Wing area: 5,140 ft² Empty weight: 158,000 lb
Loaded weight: 336,500 lb Max. takeoff weight: 376,000 lb
Powerplant: 4 × General Electric F118-GE-100 non-afterburning turbofans, 17,300 lbf each
Fuel Capacity: 167,000 pounds Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 0.95 at 40,000 ft altitude / Mach 0.95 at sea level
Cruise speed: Mach 0.85 at 40,000 ft altitude Range: 6,000 nmi)
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft Wing loading: 67.3 lb/ft²
Thrust/weight: 0.205 Armament
2 internal bays for 50,000 lb of ordnance and payload
80× 500 lb class bombs mounted on Bomb Rack Assembly
36× 750 lb CBU class bombs on BRA 16× 2000 lb class bombs mounted on Rotary
Launcher Assembly 16× B61 or B83 nuclear bombs on RLA
Individual aircraft
Sources: B-2 Spirit Fas.org, See also
Related lists List of active United States military aircraft
List of bomber aircraft List of flying wing aircraft
List of aerospace megaprojects References
Notes
Bibliography
Further reading Richardson, Doug. Northrop B-2 Spirit. New
York: Smithmark Publishers Inc., 1991. ISBN 0-8317-1404-2.
Sweetman, Bill. Inside the Stealth Bomber. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 1999.
ISBN 0-7603-0627-3. Winchester, Jim, ed. "Northrop B-2 Spirit".
Modern Military Aircraft. Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-640-5.
The World's Great Stealth and Reconnaissance Aircraft. New York: Smithmark, 1991. ISBN
0-8317-9558-1. External links
B-2 Spirit fact sheet and gallery on U.S. Air Force site
B-2 Spirit page on Northrop Grumman site B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber on airforce-technology.com
B-2 Stealth Bomber article on How It Works Daily
B-2 Spirit page at GlobalSecurity.org