How It Works-Amazing Vehicles

The B-2 is an unusual combination of complexit y and

elegance, the entire airframe built around the

concept of stealth and focused on making the aircraft

as hard to detect as possible

Ghost works:

Inside the Spirit

© John Batchelor / w w w.johnbatchelor.com

Flying wing

The B-2’s shape means it has ver y

few leading edges, making it

harder to detect on radar.

Engines

The B-2’s four General Electric F118s

don’t have afterburners as the heat

these generate would make the

aircraft easier to detect.

Rotary launch assembly (RLA)

The RLA allows the B-2 to deploy different

weapons in quick succession.

Bomb rack assembly (BRA)

The bomb rack assembly can hold up to

80 500lb bombs.

The B-2’s engines are

buried within the wing

Landings are fine, if the

tower spots you coming...

Carbon-

reinforced plastic

Special heat-resistant

material near the exhausts

mean the airframe

absorbs ver y little heat.

Landing gear doors

The landing gear doors are

hexagonal to further break up

the B-2’s radar profile.

Manufacturer: Northrop

Grumman

Year deployed: 1993

Dimensions: Length: 69ft,

wingspan: 172ft, height: 17ft

Weight empty / max:

158,000lb / 336,500lb

Unit cost: $737,000,000

Max speed: Mach 0.95

(604mph)

Propulsion: The B-2 has general

Electric F118-GE-100

non-afterburning turbofans

Ceiling: 50,000ft

Armament description: The

B-2 has two internal bays

capable of holding 50,000lb of

ordnance. Common payloads

often include:

›/',''cYZcXjjYfdYj

(Mk-82) mounted on the bomb

rack assembly or BRA

›*-.,'cY:9LZcXjjYfdYj

on BRA

›(-)#'''cYZcXjjn\Xgfej

(Mk-84, JDAM-84, JDAM-102)

mounted on the rotary launcher

assembly RLA

›(-9-(fi9/*elZc\Xi

weapons on the RLA

B-2 Spirit

The statistics...

DID YOU KNOW? The earliest example of the ‘flying wing’ design dated from German designer Hugo Junkers in 1919