November 11, 2018
Why the Air Force Only Has 20 B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers
The Spirit procurement was first reduced to 75, than cut to 20 by the Bush administration in 1992. And that made the costs skyrocket. Here is the whole story.
by Sebastien Roblin
Since its inception in 1947, the U.S. Air Force has been deeply invested in operating long-range strategic bomber for nuclear deterrence. However, by the 1960s it grew clear that high-flying B-52 bombers had poor odds of surviving the Soviet Union’s growing network of high-speed interceptors and surface-to-air missiles. The Air Force instead invested in supersonic FB-111 and B-1 bombers designed to penetrate hostile airspace at low altitude, where radar detection was more difficult. But Pentagon strategists knew the Soviets were developing doppler radars and airborne radars to cover that blindspot.
By then, U.S. aviation engineers were aware that radar-absorbent materials and non-reflective surfaces could reduce a plane’s radar detection range drastically, features implemented to modest results in Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird spy plane . Lockheed’s Have Blue prototypes led to the first operational stealth aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk strike plane.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-air-force-only-has-20-b-2-spirit-stealth-bombers-35802
