Why No Nation Wants to Fight the B-2 Bomber

why no nation wants to fight the b-2 bomber should you venture out to one of the air shows periodically held near whiteman air force base in missouri you may be so fortunate to spot one of the world's most otherworldly aircraft the manta-like b-2 spirit stealth bomber the spirit swept wings measure 52 meters across half the length of a football field and its cockpit bulges organically from the surface like that of a 1950s era sci-fi spaceship contrasting dramatically with the jagged near 45 degree angles of its trailing edges why does the b2 look so weird and how does that help it evade radar the spirit was designed late in the cold war to slip through the soviet union's formidable integrated air defense network combining ground-based radars surface-to-air missiles and aerial interceptors and radar planes radars were a linchpin of any modern air defense system so the pentagon sought a stealth plane with such a minimal radar cross section that it could only be detected at very short ranges the air force's first stealth aircraft the f-117 nighthawk was a promising start but it could only carry two bombs over 900 miles unrefueled not far enough to deliver a strategic strike deep inside enemy territory in the 1930s and 1940s aviation engineers had experimented with flying wing designs like nazi germany's horton hoe 229 and the us xb35 and yb-49 flying wings generate additional lift and coincidentally are conducive to low radar cross sections because their flat surfaces minimize opportunities for radar waves to bounce off them however pure flying wings lack tail control surfaces often leading to fatal instability the b2's design came at a turning point when fly-by-wire controls were entering widespread use these mediate a pilot's commands through an electronic interface rather than directly via hydraulics allowing a computer to compensate for unstable flight characteristics the spirits quadruple redundant system for example manipulates flaps on the wings and engine thrusts differentially to perform turns that most aircraft would rely on tail rudders and elevators to perform jet engines are a common weak point in stealth designs as they feature radar conspicuous fan blades and generate hot engine exhaust that lights up infrared sensors to avoid this vulnerability the spirits intakes are mounted on the top of the wings and funneled air through s-shaped ducts to four f-118 turbofans buried deep inside the plane this configuration dampens both the b2's acoustic and infrared signature the spirit furthermore employs secondary inlets that scoop up cold barrier air surrounding the bomber and mix it with the hot exhaust which is then expelled over a flattened titanium carbon fiber surface to further diffuse the heat signature another key aspect of the b2's low observability are radar absorbent materials the b2 skin is already primarily made up mostly of non-conductive carbon graphite composite mixed with titanium the most reflective areas such as the intakes flaps and leading edges of the wings are sprayed with additional radar absorbent material coatings which have been repeatedly tweaked over the years furthermore the skin is coated with an elastomer an elastic rubber like polymer meant to smooth away seams screws or joints between different materials which might create a in its stealthy geometry altogether these features reduce a b2's radar cross section to roughly 0.1 to 0.05 meters squared though most discrete from the front the b2 is designed to remain low observable from all angles as it's intended to penetrate deep into enemy airspace spirits are camouflaged for daytime as well as night strikes with non-reflective dark gray paint designed to blend in with the sky at distances of 23 miles or greater the b2 also sports special bays designed to release chemicals to obscure contrails but those were never used operationally instead the spirit has a lidar sensor to detect contrails giving the pilot a chance to change altitude to eliminate them the spirit is designed to fly across the globe while carrying 20 to 30 tons of weapons but not to do exceptionally quickly its turbo fans lack afterburners which in any case would cause infrared and even radar signature to bloom the spirit's top speed is 630 miles per hour which means it's a bit faster than a jumbo jet while its range of five to seven thousand miles is usually multiplied by two to four aerial refuelings using a pop-up hatch behind the cockpit this has allowed b2s to fly non-stop missions lasting nearly two days from whiteman in missouri to hit targets across the globe a spirit's cross-trained crew of two a mission commander and a pilot enter the plane via a hatch in the belly the bomber has room for one crew member to nap in shifts as well as a toilet and space to store food in a microwave though spirits routinely use gps navigation they can get along just fine if navigation satellites are knocked out by using a star-oriented inertial navigation system backed up by a terrain recognition based system satellite links and very high frequency radio allow the crew to receive mission updates such as the cancellation of a planned target when a b-2 bomber approaches defended airspace it enters stealth mode retracting antennas cutting off certain communication links and even restricting the use of its flaps if threatened by long-range radars and missiles over a wide area it may descend to low altitude to reduce detection range its terrain following system allowing the huge bomber to skim as low as 200 feet above the ground unlike the earlier nighthawk the b2 bomber is equipped with an apq 181 low probability of intercept radar that has been updated to an even stealthier active electronically scanned array model in 2010. useful for navigation and scanning ground targets it can also plot the position of hostile fighters and radars that data is fed to the bomber's apr 63 defensive measure suite allowing the mission commander to adjust the pre-programmed flight path to slip in between areas of dense radar coverage and avoid interceptors arguably the latter posed the greatest threat to the b-2 already low bandwidth radars may detect the presence but not the precise location of stealth aircraft should a hostile fighter close within a few dozen miles the spirit would be vulnerable to visual infrared and even radar detection lacking self-defense weapons or high speed the b2's odds of survival in that scenario would be pretty low for its nuclear strike mission still its most important role today the b2 can carry up to 16 b61 or megaton yielded b83 nuclear gravity bombs on the rotary launchers inside its two bomb bays a spirit's avionics are hardened versus the electromagnetic pulses generated by nuclear blasts and the pilots are offered creepy white face masks to shield their eyes from the flash of detonation however the fall of the soviet union prompted the air force to hastily adapt the b2 for conventional weapons delivery an alternate rack system can accommodate up to 80 mark 82 500 pound bombs or an equivalent weight in cluster bombs mines or larger munitions in the late 1990s the b2 was adapted to carry two thousand pound jdam gps guided weapons which are accurate within a 20-foot radius and have served as its primary weapon ever since the b-2 is also certified to carry long-range agm-154 jsow glide bombs 80 miles and agm-158 jasom stealth cruise missiles 230 to 575 miles to allow it to deliver standoff attacks without risking getting too close to increasingly powerful modern air defense radars most exotically the b2 is uniquely configured to deploy up to two massive 30 thousand pound gbu-57 massive ordnance penetrators designed to blast apart command bunkers up to 61 meters underground a capability meant to threaten decapitation of hostile foreign leaders and destruction of subterranean weapons facilities the b2's ability to deliver such devastating weapons deep within the most well-defended airspace make it a premium highly specialized war machine without equivalent at least unless china develops a decent h20 stealth bomber so far b2s have mostly leveraged their range and payload rather than stealth for actual combat operations however the spirit's awesome firepower and low observable characteristics will never be tested in the kinds of high intensity and likely nuclear great power conflict it was designed to fight that's something new [Music] you

Channel: US Military News

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Keywords: b2 spirit, b-2 bomber, B-2 Stealth, b-2 stealth bomber, air force b-2 stealth bomber, b-2 spirit stealth, us b-2 stealth bomber, Stealth Bomber, Northrop Grumman, B-2, aircraft, military, bomber aircraft, bomber, stealth aircraft

Id: L_64yGk5HOY

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 22 2021