B-2 Spirit
B-2 Spirit
Believe it or not, what you see above is an aircraft. The B-2 Spirit is the most expensive aircraft ever made. It was estimated that when it first came out, it was worth around 2.1~2.4 billion dollars. However as the years passed by, new technologies on how to make this B-2 developed, which reduced its price to about 1.3 Billion dollars. It’s still the world’s most expensive aircraft. It is one of the world’s most feared bomber aircraft ever built. This unique design the B-2 posses was to get through Soviet Defense lines, for top secret nuclear. However by the time Northrop Gruman Corporation had finished investing approximately 23 ~ 34 Billion dollars, the Soviets had already collapsed, which limited the production of twenty-two B-2 Spirits.
Most sites says that only twenty-one B-2′s were ever built; however, this is not true. The missing B-2 faced a rare tragety. The problem due to this crash was nature produced. When it comes to nature, even something like moisture can be deadly as a missle. It was reported that moisture got inside the computer system and the pilots could not control the B-2, as for the computer system did the respond to the pilots. These pilots survived by ejecting themselves off the aircraft, but what remained of the 2.3 billion piece of work was shreds of art.
extra note: any aircraft that starts with a “B” is a bomber aircraft and “F” stands for fighter aircraft
Fact Sheet:
General Characteristics
Primary function: Multi-role heavy bomber
Contractor: Northrop Grumman Corp. and Contractor Team: Boeing Military Airplanes Co., Hughes Radar Systems Group, General Electric Aircraft Engine Group and Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc.
Power Plant: Four General Electric F118-GE-100 engines
Thrust: 17,300 pounds each engine
Wingspan: 172 feet (52.12 meters)
Length: 69 feet (20.9 meters)
Height: 17 feet (5.1 meters
Weight: 160,000 pounds (72,575 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 336,500 pounds (152,634 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 167,000 pounds (75750 kilograms)
Payload: 40,000 pounds (18,144 kilograms)
Speed: High subsonic
Range: Intercontinental
Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,240 meters)
Armament: Conventional or nuclear weapons
Crew: Two pilots
Unit cost: Approximately $1.157 billion (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Initial operating capability: April 199
One of the U.S.’s most feared aircraft is the B-2. Out of all the nations, only the US owns a B-2, yet every now and then, countries like N.Korea ask for a war against the US. The B-2 was responsible for 33 percent of all the damage done by bombing to Siberia during the war, NATO vs Siberia. Such behavior is unacceptable, and the US is too nice to other countries that poses a threat to this world, whether its just terrorists themselves or the country. Probably only with one B2 spirits, the US could cripple such countries like North Korea tremendously, if the US were able to use Nuke. The B-2 can hold mutiple Nuclear devices. Even without nuclear weapons, the B-2 could severly hurt a country by attacking 16 seperate targets, which are important to the country. So it’s hard hard to understand why minor countries want to pose a war.
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