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B-2 Spirit A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit flying over the Pacific Ocean in 2016 General information Type Stealth strategic heavy bomber National origin United States Manufacturer Northrop Corporation Northrop Grumman Status In service Primary user United States Air Force Number built 21 History Manufactured 1987–2000 Introduction date 1 January 1997 First flight 17 July 1989 ; 35 years ago ...
The B-1A was the original B-1 design with variable engine intakes and Mach 2.2 top speed. Four prototypes were built; no production units were manufactured. [133] [162] B-1B The B-1B is a revised B-1 design with reduced radar signature and a top speed of Mach 1.25. It is optimized for low-level penetration. A total of 100 B-1Bs were produced ...
The B-21 is slated to, by 2040, replace the U.S. Air Force's 45 B-1 strategic bombers, which date from the 1980s, and 19 B-2 strategic bombers, which date from the 1990s. The B-21 may also eventually replace the B-52, which originally dates from the 1950s and is slated to remain in service for many decades.
The most expensive aviation crash in history is the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber aircraft crash. ... the plane's sensors misreported the aircraft's speed, and the Flight Control System (FCS ...
Stealth aircraft are typically more expensive to develop and manufacture. An example is the B-2 Spirit that is many times more expensive to manufacture and support than conventional bomber aircraft. The B-2 program cost the U.S. Air Force almost $45 billion. [24]
A B-2 Spirit dropping Mk82 bombs into the Pacific Ocean in a 1994 training exercise off Point Mugu, California.. With a nominal weight of 500 lb (230 kg), it is one of the smallest bombs in current service, and one of the most common air-dropped weapons in the world.
On 23 February 2008, a B‑2 crashed on the runway shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. [1] The crash of the Spirit of Kansas, 89-0127, which had been operated by the 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and had logged 5,100 flight hours, [6] was the first crash of a B‑2. [7]
Funding of the project allegedly reached $2.3 billion in fiscal 1987, according to a 1986 procurement document obtained by Aviation Week. In the 1994 book Skunk Works, Ben Rich, the former head of Lockheed's Skunk Works division, wrote that the Aurora was the budgetary code name for the stealth bomber fly-off that resulted in the B-2 Spirit. [7]