How Does The -B-2 Spirit - Bomber-Works

The B2 spirit was developed to take over the usaf's vital penetration missions able to travel deep into enemy territory to deploy ordnance which could include nuclear weapons the b2 is a flying wing aircraft meaning it has no main body or tail it has significant advantages over previous bombers due to its blend of low observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload the u.s air force reports its range is approximately 6 000 nautical miles that is 6 900 miles or 11 000 kilometers at cruising speed the b2 refuels every 6 hours taking on up to 50 short tons of fuel at a time approximately 80 pilots fly the b2 each aircraft has a crew of two pilots a pilot in the left seat and mission commander in the right and has provisions for a third crew member if needed the b2 is highly automated and one crew member can sleep in a camp bed use a toilet or prepare a hot meal while the others monitor the aircraft unlike most two-seat aircraft armament and equipment the b2 is capable of carrying 40 000 pounds of total weapons there are two internal bomb bays in which munitions are stored either on a rotary launcher or two bomb racks the carriage of the weapon loadouts internally result in less radar visibility than external mounting of munitions the b2 is equipped with weapons such as b61 and b83 nuclear bombs the agm-129 acm cruise missile was also intended for use on the b2 platform the b2 has various conventional weapons like mark 82 and mark 84 bombs cbu-87 combined effect munitions gator mines and the cbu-97 sensor fused weapon avionics and systems in order to make the b2 more effective than previous bombers many advanced and modern avionics systems were integrated into its design and these have been modified and improved following a switch to conventional warfare missions flight controls the b2 uses a complex quadruplex computer controlled fly-by-wire flight control system that can automatically manipulate flight services and settings without direct pilot inputs in order to maintain aircraft stability the flight computer receives information on external conditions such as the aircraft's current airspeed and angle of a tank via sensing plates engine thrust became a key element of the b2's aerodynamic design process early on thrust not only affects drag and lift but pitching and rolling motions as well four pairs of control surfaces are located along the wing's trailing edge while most surfaces are used throughout the aircraft's flight envelope the inner elevons are normally only used at low speeds such as landing to avoid potential contact damage during takeoff and to provide a nose-down pitching attitude all of the l bonds remain drooped during takeoff until a high enough airspeed has been attained stealth the b2's engines are buried within its wings to conceal the engine's fans and minimize their exhaust signature the b2 is low observable or stealth characteristics enable the undetected penetration of sophisticated anti-aircraft defenses and to attack even heavily defended targets the stealth comes from a combination of reduced acoustic infrared visual and to evade the various detection systems that could be used to detect and be used to direct attacks against an aircraft.

The b2 stealth enables the reduction of supporting aircraft that are required to provide air cover suppression of enemy air defenses and electronic counter measures making the bomber a force multiplier as of september 2013 there has been no instances of a missile being launched at a b2 to reduce optical visibility during daylight flights the b2 is painted in an anti-reflective paint the undersides are dark because it flies at high altitudes and at that altitude a dark grey paint painting blends well into the sky it is speculated to have an upward facing light sensor which alerts the pilot to increase or reduce altitude to match the changing illuminance of the sky the b2 is vulnerable to visual interception at ranges of 23 miles or less the b2 is stored in a 5 million dollar specialized air conditioned hanger to maintain its stealth coating every 7 years this coating is carefully removed by being washed off with crystallized wheat starch so that the b2 surfaces can be inspected for any dance or scratches radar the b2's clean low drag flying wing configuration not only provides exceptional range but is also beneficial to reducing its radar profile the flying wing design most closely resembles a so-called infinite flat plate the perfect stealth shape as it would lack angles to reflect back radar waves without vertical surfaces to reflect radar laterally side aspect radar cross section is also reduced radons operating at a low frequency band are able to detect and track certain stealth aircraft out of multiple control surfaces materials according to heighten's phenol principle even a very flat plate would still reflect radars though much less than when a signal is bouncing at a right angle additional reduction in its radar signature was achieved by the use of various radar absorbent materials to absorb and neutralize radar beams the majority of the b2 is made out of a carbon graphite composer material that is stronger than steel lighter than aluminium and absorbs a significant amount of radar energy the b2 is assembled with unusually tight engineering tolerances to avoid leaks as they could increase its radar signature.