Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids B-2 Spirit

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit over the Pacific Ocean in May 2006.
Role	Strategic stealth bomber
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation Northrop Grumman
First flight	17 July 1989
Introduction	April 1997
Status	In service
Primary user	United States Air Force
Produced	1988-2000
Number built	21
Program cost	US$44.75 billion (through 2004)
Unit cost	$737 million (1997 approx. flyaway cost)

The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also called the Stealth Bomber, is an American strategic bomber. It has a lot of stealth technology, and it is designed to get through many anti-aircraft defenses. It can drop both conventional and nuclear weapons. Two people fly the bomber, and it can drop up to 80 500 lb (230 kg)-class JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400 lb (1,100 kg) B83 nuclear bombs.

The bomber began being designed as the "Advanced Technology Bomber" (ATB) during the Carter administration. The designing of the ATB continued during the Reagan administration. The bomber was designed and is made by Northrop Grumman, with help from Boeing. Each aircraft cost US$737 million (in 1997 dollars).

Because the bomber is very expensive, the project was controversial in the U.S. Congress. The end of the Cold War meant that the bomber was not really needed anymore. Congress wanted to buy 132 bombers, but during the late 1980s and 1990s, Congress reduced this to 21. In 2008, a B-2 was destroyed in a crash shortly after takeoff. The crew got out safely. 20 B-2s are being used by the United States Air Force.

Although the B-2 was supposed to be a mainly nuclear bomber, it was first used in combat to drop normal bombs on Serbia during the Kosovo War in 1999. It was used during the Iraq War and it is being used in the war in Afghanistan.

Images for kids

The B-2's first public display in 1988 at Palmdale, California: in front of the B-2 is a star shape formed with five B-2 silhouettes
The B-2's first public flight in 1989
B-2 from below
Side view of a B-2 Spirit
A 2,000 lb (910 kg) BDU-56 bomb being loaded onto a bomb bay's rotary launcher, 2004
A maintenance crew servicing a B-2 at Andersen AFB, Guam, 2004
Vice President Dick Cheney inside a B-2 cockpit with pilot Capt. Luke Jayne during a visit to Whiteman AFB, 2006
The B-2's engines are buried within its wing to conceal the engines' fans and minimize their exhaust signature
Illustration of the B-2's basic radar reflection angles
The gap below the air intake has the purpose of keeping the boundary layer out of the jet engine
A B-2 during aerial refueling which extends its range past 6,000 nautical miles (6,900 mi; 11,000 km) for intercontinental sorties
In a 1994 live fire exercise near Point Mugu, California, a B-2 drops 47 individual 500 lb (230 kg) Mark 82 bombs, which is more than half of a B-2's total ordnance payload.
Wreckage of the 2008 B-2 crash
Restored B-2 Spirit full-scale test unit on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
Orthographically projected diagram of the B-2 Spirit
A B-2 in formation flight with eight U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets
Spirit of Indiana sits on the ramp at Andersen AFB in Guam on 23 June 2006
Spirit of New York
B-2 in flight over the Mississippi River (St. Louis, Missouri) with the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium in the background

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit facts for kids

Images for kids

See also