The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is the world’s first (and currently only) operational stealth bomber. It was first unveiled to the public on November 22, 1988, and entered service on January 1, 1997.
Despite boasting a nearly 7,000-mile unrefueled range, this bomber’s sleek design wasn’t crafted solely around fuel efficiency. It was purpose-built to defeat the most advanced and capable air defense systems in the world by leveraging a new technology at the time known as stealth.
The U.S. government acknowledged the existence of stealth technology for the first time in 1980, but to that point, the world had never seen a stealth aircraft before. The F-117 Nighthawk, which had been in service since 1983, wouldn’t be revealed to the public for another two years.
The incredible stealth of the B-2 Spirit
The B-2 Spirit first flew in 1989 — 16 years before the F-22 entered service and 26 years before the F-35 reached initial operating capability with the Marine Corps. And while both of these stealth fighters are practically without peer in terms of overall low observability within the fighter realm, the B-2 remains harder to detect and track than either of the newer cutting-edge jets. The upcoming B-21 Raider will extend this advantage even further.
Stealth designs minimize an aircraft’s radar signature therefore delaying and sometimes even preventing detection. But because of the aerobatic performance required of tactical fighters, jets like the F-35 have to include things like vertical tail surfaces for maneuverability and control.
These facets of fighter design can be optimized to limit detectability against high-frequency radar systems, but they still tend to produce a return against low-frequency early warning arrays that aren’t capable of actually guiding a weapon to a target. In fact, it’s not uncommon for air traffic control radar to spot stealth fighters on their scopes, even when flying without radar reflectors or external fuel tanks and munitions.
Stealth bombers like the B-2 Spirit and B-21 Raider, on the other hand, don’t need to be able to perform the same high-G stunts you’d expect out of a fighter, and that means they can omit common facets of stealth fighter designs like the tail section. As a result, these stealthy flying wings are not only extremely difficult to target using high-frequency fire-control radars but also extremely difficult to even detect using low-frequency radars that can easily spot inbound stealth fighters.
B-2 Spirit specs
(All specs courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)
General characteristics
Primary function: multi-role heavy bomber
Contractor: Northrop Grumman Corp. and Contractor Team: Boeing Military Airplanes Co., Hughes Radar Systems Group, General Electric Aircraft Engine Group and Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc.
Power plant: four General Electric F118-GE-100 engines
Thrust: 17,300 pounds each engine
Wingspan: 172 feet (52.12 meters)
Length: 69 feet (20.9 meters)
Height: 17 feet (5.1 meters)
Weight: 160,000 pounds (72,575 kilograms)
Maximum takeoff weight: 336,500 pounds (152,634 kilograms)
Fuel capacity: 167,000 pounds (75750 kilograms)
Payload: 40,000 pounds (18,144 kilograms)
Speed: high subsonic
Range: intercontinental
Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,240 meters)
Armament: conventional or nuclear weapons
Crew: two pilots
Unit cost: Approximately $1.157 billion (fiscal 1998 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 1997
Inventory: active force: 20 (one test); ANG: 0; Reserve: 0
Sandboxx News stories featuring the B-2 Spirit
- Everything you need to know about the B-21 Raider being unveiled in December
- H-20: What we know about China’s stealth bomber
- Was America’s Aurora hypersonic aircraft real? We get to the bottom of it
- The most advanced bomber ever: Here’s what we know about the B-21 Raider
- America’s B-2 bomber successfully fires stealthy cruise missiles
- America’s B-2 bomber successfully fires stealthy cruise missiles
- Timeline: The groundbreaking firsts in US airpower
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