B-2 Spirit Model Airplane

Item#: CB2TR

MSRP Price: $151.15

Factory Direct Price: $113.36

Wing Span: 13.25
Length: 5.25

Manufacturer: Northrop Corporation/Northrop Grumman

The B-2 is operated exclusively by the United States Air Force with none in the Air Force Reserves. Though originally designed in the 1980s for Cold War operations scenarios, B-2s have been used in combat to drop bombs on Kosovo in the late 1990s, and see continued use during the ongoing Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Featuring formidable design specifications, a two officer crew aboard the bomber can drop up to eighty 500-pound class JDAM "smart" bombs, or sixteen 2,600-pound B83 nuclear bombs in a single pass through extremely dense anti-aircraft defenses. The bomber has been a prominent public spectacle at air shows since the 1990s. It has been the subject of espionage and counter-espionage activity.

The B-2 originated from the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) black project which began in 1979.Meanwhile, as Ronald Reagan campaigned for the Presidency in 1979 and 1980, he promised a restoration of American military strength. On August 22, 1980, the Department of Defense first publicly disclosed that it was working to develop stealth aircraft including the ATB.The ATB competition was reduced to the Northrop/Boeing and Lockheed/Rockwell teams with each receiving a study contract for further work.Both teams developed flying wing designs. The Northrop design was larger while the Lockheed design was smaller and included a small tail.

The first B-2 was first publicly displayed on November 22, 1988, at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, where it was built. Its first public flight was on July 17, 1989 from Palmdale.The B-2 Combined Test Force, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, is responsible for flight testing Air Force aircraft.

A procurement of 132 aircraft was planned in the mid-1980s, but this was later reduced to 75.Yielding to budgetary pressures and Congressional opposition, in his 1992 State of the Union Address, President George H.W. Bush announced total B-2 production would be limited to 20 aircraft.[12] This reduction was largely a result of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which effectively rendered void the Spirit's primary Cold War mission.

In 1990, the Department of Defense accused Northrop of using faulty components in the flight control system. More recent issues with the bomber have included cracks in the tail. Efforts have also been made to reduce the probability of bird ingestion, which could damage engine fan blades.

Northrop made a proposal to the USAF in the 1995 to build 20 additional aircraft with a flyaway cost of $566M each, a figure which excludes the bomber's operations costs.The bombers high costs reflected the innovation of a paperless computer aided design CAD system, and a computerized manufacturing control system.

The high development costs also reflect the inefficiencies of separating design teams into different parts of the country for reasons of both design intelligence compartmentalization as a counter-espionage measure, and as a political measure to create lucrative jobs manufacturing different constituent parts of the plane in a variety of Congressional districts across the United States.

The prime contractor, responsible for overall system design and integration, is Northrop Grumman. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Hughes Aircraft (now Raytheon), General Electric Aircraft Engines and Vought Aircraft Industries, are members of the aircraft contractor team.

Please note that the stand shown in this photograph may vary or change with the model you receive.