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Future Weapons: B-2 Spirit

The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role stealth bomber capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons. Over $23 billion was secretly spent on its research and development in the 1980s. It was originally designed as a high-altitude nuclear bomber during the Cold War but was later redesigned as a low-altitude bomber. With a crew of two, the B-2 has a range of over 6,000 nautical miles without refueling and can drop 80 500-pound bombs in a single pass, aided by its stealth technology and GPS-guided targeting systems.

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94 views

Future Weapons: B-2 Spirit

The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role stealth bomber capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons. Over $23 billion was secretly spent on its research and development in the 1980s. It was originally designed as a high-altitude nuclear bomber during the Cold War but was later redesigned as a low-altitude bomber. With a crew of two, the B-2 has a range of over 6,000 nautical miles without refueling and can drop 80 500-pound bombs in a single pass, aided by its stealth technology and GPS-guided targeting systems.

Uploaded by

Saimon Rahman
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Future Weapons

B-2 Spirit

Introduction

B-2 Spirit is a multi-role stealth heavy bomber, capable of deploying both conventional and nuclear weapons. Its development was a milestone in the modernization program of the U.S. Department of Defense. The B-2's secondgeneration stealth technology is intended to aid the aircraft's penetration role in order to survive extremely dense anti-aircraft defenses otherwise considered impenetrable by combat aircraft.

Development

The B-2 started life as a black project known as the High Altitude Penetrating Bomber (HAPB), then became the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) and used the project code word Senior Cejay. It later became the B-2 Spirit. An estimated US$23 billion were secretly spent for research and development on the B-2 in the 1980s

Development

An additional expense was caused by changing its role in 1985 from a high-altitude bomber to a low-altitude bomber, which required a major redesign. These bombers were originally designed to drop nuclear weapons during the cold war and support for them dwindled as military spending declined. In May 1995, in a study commissioned by Congress, the Institute for Defense Analyses concluded that after the demise of the Soviet Union, there was no need for more B-2s.

Design

With the B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer, the U.S. military claims that the B-2 provides the versatility inherent in manned bombers. Its low-observable, or "stealth," characteristics give it the ability to penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and attack its most heavily defended targets

Design

The blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload gives the B-2 significant advantages over previous bombers. Its traveling range is approximately 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km) without refueling. Also, its lowobservation ability provides the B-2 greater freedom of action at high altitudes, thus increasing its range and giving a better field of view for the aircraft's sensors

With its GPS Aided Targeting System (GATS) combined with GPS-aided bombs such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), it can use its passive electronically scanned array APQ-181 radar to correct GPS errors of targets and gain much better than laser-guided weapon accuracy with "dumb" gravity bombs with a GPSaided "smart" guidance tail kit attached. It can bomb 16 targets in a single pass when equipped with 1,000 or 2,000pound bombs, or as many as 80 when carrying 500-lb bombs.

Design

The B-2 has a crew of two; a pilot in the left seat and mission commander in the right, compared to the B1B's crew of four and the B52's crew of five. The B-2 is highly automated, and unlike single-seat fighters, one crewmember can sleep, use a flush toilet or prepare a hot meal while the other monitors the aircraft.

General characteristics

Crew: 2 Length: 20.9 m (69 ft) Wingspan: 52.12 m (172 ft) Height: 5.1 m (17 ft) Wing area: 460 m (5,000 ft) Empty weight: 71.7 t (158,000 lb) Loaded weight: 152.6 t (336,500 lb) Max takeoff weight: 171.0 t (376,000 lb) Powerplant: 4 General Electric F118-GE-100 turbofans, 77 kN (17,300 lbf) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 410 knots (764 km/h, 475 mph) Range: 10,400 km (5,600 nm, 6,500 mi) Service ceiling: 15,000 m (50,000 ft) Wing loading: 329 kg/m (67.3 lb/ft) Thrust/weight: 0.205

Recent events

Noshir Gowadia, a design engineer that worked on the B-2's propulsion system, was arrested in October 2005 for selling classified information related to the B-2 to foreign countries. His trial had been scheduled for 10 July 2007.[10]

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