United States Department of Defense - B-2 Spirit

The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is a multi-role stealth heavy bomber, capable of deploying both conventional and nuclear weapons. It is operated exclusively by the United States Air Force. Its development was a milestone in the modernization program of the U.S. Department of Defense. The B-2's 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.

The B-2 started life as a black project known as the High Altitude Penetrating Bomber (HAPB), then became the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB), which became the B-2 Spirit. The bomber's design was changed in the mid-1980s when its 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 $1 billion to the program's cost.[4] An estimated US$23 billion was secretly spent for research and development on the B-2 in the 1980s.[citation needed]

The first B-2 was publicly displayed on 22 November 1988, when it was rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, where it was built. Its first public flight was on 17 July 1989. The B-2 Combined Test Force, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, is responsible for flight testing the engineering, manufacturing and development aircraft.


The original procurement of 132 aircraft was later reduced to 75 in the late 1980s. In his 1992 State of the Union Address, President George H.W. Bush announced total B-2 production would be limited to 20 aircraft, with a total inventory of 21 by upgrading the first test aircraft to B-2A Block 30 standard.This reduction was largely a result of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which effectively rendered void the Spirit's primary mission.

The cost of the B-2 program in 1994 dollars was reported at $737 million per plane; however, the total cost of the program with development, spares, and facilities averaged over $2.1 billion per plane as of 1997 according to the B-2 program office.

Northrop made a proposal to the USAF in the late 1990s to build additional aircraft for ~$550M each. This more accurately reflects the per aircraft cost if the full order had been manufactured. The high development costs included: another stealth prototype (now at the USAF museum), security costs which included inefficiencies of separating design teams, the development of a computer aided design system which requires no paper (it was the first aircraft so designed), a totally computerized manufacturing control system (the first of its kind), and a computerized maintenance system to help crew chiefs with the most complex aircraft yet made.

Armament

* 2 internal bays for 50,000 lb (22,700 kg) of ordnance.[25]
o 80× 500 lb class bombs (Mk-82) mounted on Bomb Rack Assembly (BRA)
o 36× 750 lb CBU class bombs on BRA
o 16× 2000 lb class weapons (Mk-84, JDAM-84, JDAM-102) mounted on Rotary Launcher Assembly (RLA)
o 16× B61 or B83 nuclear weapons on RLA