8/11/2023 0 Comments Log cabin kits for sale 50.000Congress even before the winding-down of the Cold War dramatically reduced the need for a stealthy aircraft designed to strike deep in Soviet territory. The project's considerable capital and operating costs made it controversial in the U.S. Just building each aircraft cost an average of US$737 million, while total procurement costs (including production, spare parts, equipment, retrofitting, and software support) averaged $929 million per plane. Ultimately, the program produced 21 B-2s at an average cost of $2.13 billion (in 1997 dollars), including development, engineering, testing, production, and procurement. But development difficulties delayed progress and drove costs up. The B-2 is the only acknowledged in-service aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration.ĭevelopment began under the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) project during the Carter administration, which cancelled the Mach 2-capable B-1A bomber in part because the ATB showed such promise. The bomber can drop 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. A subsonic flying wing with a crew of two, the plane was designed by Northrop, later Northrop Grumman, and produced from 1987 to 2000. The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses.
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