12/22/2023 0 Comments B2 spirit cockpit"That made their sticker price upwards of $2 billion each - it would have been much more reasonable had they built 132 as originally planned," said Grant.Ī B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber named "Spirit of Alaska" at Whiteman Air Force Base. The 21 B-2s that were built also had to bear all the costs associated with the program's research and development, which would have been more evenly spread over a larger number of aircraft. The delicate skin of the plane, which provides additional stealth, must be stored at cool temperature, requiring air-conditioned hangars that contribute to the high operating costs. Another B-2 was severely damaged in a fire in 2010 and sustained extensive repairs before coming back into service.Īll B-2s are named after a US state ("Spirit of Missouri") and are among the most high-maintenance planes in existence, and tens of hours of servicing are needed for each hour of flight. While no B-2 has ever been lost in combat - the plane doesn't even have defensive weapons - one was destroyed in an accident in 2008, when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam (the pilots ejected safely). Credit: USAF/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via CNN They won't tell you the whole procedure, but it's true - they do stealth up when they come near the target area," said Grant.ī-2 missions have lasted as long as 44 continuous hours - such as one flown in 2001 from Missouri to Afghanistan during operation Enduring Freedom - which is why there is a flat space behind the cockpit where one of the two pilots can rest, along with facilities to store and heat food, as well as a toilet.Ī B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker. ![]() "Just like any combat aircraft, when you're near the threat you do a whole bunch of things to get ready to penetrate. Among other things, pilots must press a button in the cockpit marked "PEN," to penetrate enemy defenses. These features, known collectively as low observable technology, are not always in operation, but are activated when the plane needs to become invisible. Finally, the B-2 is very quiet, and can only be heard once it's passed overhead. A heat signature is a dead giveaway that a plane is in the sky, and the B-2's designers went to lengths to obfuscate it, even using the same kind of heat-absorbing tiles that protected the Space Shuttle during re-entry, placed near the engine exhaust.Īn on-board system alerts the crew if the plane is creating contrails - the vapor trails that form when ice crystals coalesce around aircraft exhaust gases - allowing them to change altitude. "There are also radar-absorbing coatings and materials, and you can't see its engines because they are tucked away in the aft section, to avoid producing any heat signature," Grant said. However, the work done on the YB-49 was used to kickstart the B-2 program - the company that makes it was founded by Northrop himself - and although the planes are decades apart, they have striking similarities, including the exact same wingspan. Far ahead of its time, the project was held back by technical difficulties and quickly scrapped. Northrop's work culminated in the YB-49, his first jet powered flying wing design, in 1947. In the United States, it was pioneered by aircraft designer and industrialist Jack Northrop, whose first flying wing prototypes - in small scale and powered by propeller engines - took to the skies in 1940. The idea of designing a plane as a flying wing - without a definite fuselage, a tail and other protuberances - is an early one in aviation, surfacing before World War I in Germany and the Soviet Union. Credit: USAF/Getty Images North America via CNN It is designed to be completely invisible to radar. The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit first flew in 1989 and 21 B-2s are still in service with the US Air Force.
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