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. Congress and among the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
īecause of its considerable capital and operating costs, the project was controversial in the U.S. The total program cost including development, engineering and testing, averaged $2.1 billion per aircraft in 1997.
B2 bomber cockpit software#
Total procurement costs averaged $929 million per aircraft, which includes spare parts, equipment, retrofitting, and software support. Designed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman with assistance from Boeing, the cost of each aircraft averaged US$737 million (in 1997 dollars). Program costs rose throughout development. ATB continued during the Reagan administration, but worries about delays in its introduction led to the reinstatement of the B-1 program as well. The B-2 is the only aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration.ĭevelopment originally started under the "Advanced Technology Bomber" (ATB) project during the Carter administration, and its performance was one of the reasons for his cancellation of the B-1 Lancer.
The bomber has a crew of two and can drop up to eighty 500 lb (230 kg)-class JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400 lb (1,100 kg) B83 nuclear bombs. The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American strategic bomber, featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses it is able to deploy both conventional and nuclear weapons.
0 kommentar(er)
