The design, interior and operation of the B-2 Spirit, the most expensive aircraft in the world

On July 17, 1989, a revolutionary aircraft made its first flight: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit strategic bomber.

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The B-2 was the first stealth bomber in history, that is, the first capable of having a radar signature low enough to be almost invisible to the enemy. To make this possible, the aircraft was designed as a flying wing with no horizontal surfaces, so computer navigation requires constant computer assistance, otherwise it would be a very difficult aircraft to fly.

The United States Air Force (USAF) had planned to acquire 132 B-2s, but several events led to a significant reduction in the final fleet. First, the end of the Cold War with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Second, the aircraft proved to be extremely expensive: $929 million per unit in 1997, a cost that rises to $2.13 billion per aircraft if the total cost of the program is added up. The B-2 turned out to be by far the most expensive aircraft in the world, which ultimately reduced its fleet to 21 bombers, reduced to 20 after the accident suffered by one of them on February 23, 2008.

In addition to the high cost of each aircraft, the B-2 also has a high operating cost, with almost twice as many maintenance hours per flight hour as a B-52 or B-1B, its predecessors. For that reason, the USAF plans to retire its B-1B and B-2 fleets, but keep the B-52s and the new B-21, the successor to the B-2, which also has a flying wing design. A few days ago, Learn from the base published an interesting video showing the design, interior and operation of this aircraft:

You can see some screenshots from this interesting video here. Here we see the characteristic shape of the B-2 Spirit, a design that responds to the need for its radar signature to be as low as possible.

The location of the two weapons bays, with rotating racks capable of holding eight bombs each. The B-2 can carry both conventional and nuclear bombs.

The location of the B-2's four turbofan engines, of the General Electric F118-GE-100 type. Unlike other military jet aircraft, the B-2's engines do not have afterburners to reduce the aircraft's infrared signature. Because of this, the B-2 is a subsonic bomber, capable of reaching a maximum speed of 900 km/h.