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How much payload can a B-2 carry?
The B-2 stealth bomber has the capacity to carry up to 40,000lb of weapons, including conventional and nuclear weapons, precision-guided munitions, gravity bombs and a range of maritime weapons. Each weapons bay is equipped with a rotary launcher and two bomb-rack assemblies.
What is the difference between B-2 and B-21?
The most apparent difference is that the B-21 has a clean diamond-shaped center body section in contrast to the B-2’s more jagged rear center wing outline. The indents in the B-2’s rear center wing were created by the engine exhausts, a design feature that appears to be absent from the B-21.
What’s the difference between a B-2 bomber and a B-21 bomber?
The B-21 is believed to be somewhat smaller than the B-2, with a payload of around 30,000-pounds, just large enough to carry one GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator precision-guided conventional bomb, the largest in the Air Force inventory.
How many B-21 will be built?
The fact that three more B-21s are now being assembled is a major indication of how fast the high-stakes bomber program is progressing. The U.S. Air Force now has no fewer than five examples of its secretive Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber in a process of final assembly.
What will replace the B-2?
The B-21 will replace the B-1 and B-2 bombers starting in the late 2020s. The first B-21 bomber is scheduled to take flight in 2022.
What are the advantages of the B-2 bomber?
The US Air Force web-site says: The revolutionary blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload gives the B-2 important advantages over existing bombers. But in comparison with the other bombers, including much older B-52, it appears to be less aerodynamically efficient and carries less payload.
Is the B-2 bomber the same as the ASPA?
In fact, the new aircraft look startlingly similar to the original Advanced Strategic Penetration Aircraft (ASPA) and the later Advanced Technology Bomber concept from the 1980s that ultimately resulted in the B-2.
What’s the difference between the B2 and B52?
@Durandal points to another detail/difference: The B52 and B1 both can carry ordnance on external hard points (and this is a must to get up to the cited payloads). The B2 has no such hard points because it would nullify its stealth capability.
What kind of Bomber is the B-2 Spirit?
The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. A dramatic leap forward in technology, the bomber represents a major milestone in the U.S. bomber modernization program. The B-2 brings massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses.