https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMl1fwytfwA
The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses. Designed during the Cold War, it is a flying wing design with a crew of two. The bomber is subsonic and can deploy both conventional and thermonuclear weapons, such as up to eighty 500-pound class (230 kg) Mk 82 JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400-pound (1,100 kg) B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only acknowledged aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration.Development started under the “Advanced Technology Bomber” (ATB) project during the Carter administration; its expected performance was one of the President’s reasons for the cancellation of the Mach 2 capable B-1A bomber. The ATB project continued during the Reagan administration, but worries about delays in its introduction led to the reinstatement of the B-1 program. Program costs rose throughout development. Designed and manufactured by Northrop, later Northrop Grumman, the cost of each aircraft averaged US$737 million (in 1997 dollars). Total procurement costs averaged $929 million per aircraft, which includes spare parts, equipment, retrofitting, and software support.[4] The total program cost, which included development, engineering and testing, averaged $2.13 billion per aircraft in 1997.Because of its considerable capital and operating costs, the project was controversial in the U.S. Congress. The winding-down of the Cold War in the latter portion of the 1980s dramatically reduced the need for the aircraft, which was designed with the intention of penetrating Soviet airspace and attacking high-value targets. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Congress slashed plans to purchase 132 bombers to 21. In 2008, a B-2 was destroyed in a crash shortly after takeoff, though the crew ejected safely. As of 2018, twenty B-2s are in service with the United States Air Force, which plans to operate them until 2032, when the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is to replace it.The B-2 is capable of all-altitude attack missions up to 50,000 feet (15,000 m), with a range of more than 6,000 nautical miles (6,900 mi; 11,000 km) on internal fuel and over 10,000 nautical miles (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) with one mid air refueling. It entered service in 1997 as the second aircraft designed to have advanced stealth technology after the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk attack aircraft. Though designed originally as primarily a nuclear bomber, the B-2 was first used in combat dropping conventional, non-nuclear ordnance in the Kosovo War in 1999. It later served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.During its design and development, the Northrop B-2 program was a “black” project requiring a secret clearance for all program personnel before its revelation to the public. Unlike the Lockheed F-117 program, which was also a black project (the type of military project of which very few people knew even existed while it was being designed and developed), more people within the United States federal government knew about the B-2 and more information about the project was available. Both during development and in service, considerable effort has been devoted to maintaining the security of the B-2’s design and technologies. Staff working on the B-2 in most, if not all, capacities have to achieve a level of special-access clearance, and undergo extensive background checks carried out by a special branch of the Air Force.General characteristicsCrew: 2: pilot (left seat) and mission commander (right seat)Length: 69 ft 0 in (21.0 m)Wingspan: 172 ft 0 in (52.4 m)Height: 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m)Wing area: 5,140 sq ft (478 m2)Empty weight: 158,000 lb (71,700 kg)Gross weight: 336,500 lb (152,200 kg)Max takeoff weight: 376,000 lb (170,600 kg)Fuel capacity: 167,000 pounds (75,750 kg)Powerplant: 4 × General Electric F118-GE-100 non-afterburning turbofans, 17,300 lbf (77 kN) thrust eachPerformanceMaximum speed: 630 mph (1,010 km/h, 550 kn) at 40,000 ft (12,000 m) altitude / Mach 0.95 at sea levelCruise speed: 560 mph (900 km/h, 487 kn) at 40,000 ft (12,000 m) altitudeRange: 6,900 mi (11,000 km, 6,000 nmi)Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,200 m)Wing loading: 67.3 lb/sq ft (329 kg/m2)Thrust/weight: 0.205Armament2 internal bays for ordnance and payload with an official limit of 40,000 lb (18,000 kg); maximum estimated limit is 50,000 lb (23,000 kg)[69]80× 500 lb (230 kg) class bombs (Mk-82, GBU-38) mounted on Bomb Rack Assembly (BRA)36× 750 lb (340 kg) CBU class bombs on BRA16× 2,000 lb (910 kg) class bombs (Mk-84, GBU-31) mounted on Rotary Launcher Assembly (RLA)16× B61 or B83 nuclear bombs on RLA (strategic mission)Standoff weapon: AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)[162][163]2× GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator
