The intensity and angle of this reflection gives the size and location of the target. Unlike other aircraft, the B-2's flying wing design doesn't have any large vertical shapes, such as a tail, for radar waves to bounce off.
In fact, its smooth surface is designed to scatter radar waves completely, so that almost none return to the source, making the plane appear as small as a bird. Ironically, the principles used for this were first exposed by a Russian physicist , Pyotr Ufimtsev, in a book which the Soviet Union deemed of no national security value, thus clearing it for publication. A heat signature is a dead giveaway that a plane is in the sky, and the B-2's designers went to lengths to obfuscate it, even using the same kind of heat-absorbing tiles that protected the Space Shuttle during re-entry, placed near the engine exhaust.
An on-board system alerts the crew if the plane is creating contrails -- the vapor trails that form when ice crystals coalesce around aircraft exhaust gases -- allowing them to change altitude. Finally, the B-2 is very quiet, and can only be heard once it's passed overhead. Never-before-seen video of B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. These features, known collectively as low observable technology, are not always in operation, but are activated when the plane needs to become invisible.
Among other things, pilots must press a button in the cockpit marked "PEN," to penetrate enemy defenses. They won't tell you the whole procedure, but it's true -- they do stealth up when they come near the target area," said Grant. Project Habbakuk: Britain's secret attempt to build an ice warship. Two days in the air.
B-2 missions have lasted as long as 44 continuous hours -- such as one flown in from Missouri to Afghanistan during operation Enduring Freedom -- which is why there is a flat space behind the cockpit where one of the two pilots can rest, along with facilities to store and heat food, as well as a toilet. In this case, after the initial presentation was made, long discussions ensued in the White House. As usual, the weapons had constituencies at the Pentagon. The problem was that the targets, though clustered around the two camps, did not dwell in structures that could be hit, and tended to spend their days and nights widely dispersed.
A cruise-missile strike would likely allow many to escape. In the end, the idea of using Air Force heavy bombers prevailed because of their ability to deliver dozens of self-steering, individually targeted bombs; then to linger in the vicinity, waiting for surveillance assessments from the drones; and if necessary to deliver more bombs.
The Air Force has three types of heavy bombers, any of which could have done the job. The choice of the B-2 was surprising because it is by far the most expensive airplane to fly and maintain, and Libya post-Qaddafi had no air defenses that might require a stealth capability to penetrate. Bombing ignorant gunmen camped out in a desert of a non-country is a far cry from launching an attack against a modern military adversary.
The Air Force says simply that after a formal process of consideration, the B-2 was deemed the appropriate platform. While his request was being studied at the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff formally asked Strategic Command about the availability of the assets.
Stratcom occupies a building named after Curtis LeMay. It contacted the th Bomb Wing, home to the B-2s at Whiteman. The th is the direct descendant of a bomber group formed in for the purpose of dropping nuclear weapons on Japan. It was commanded last January by the grandson of its commander then. Hundreds of military personnel at Whiteman—pilots and ground crews alike—had been training for years, and were not just ready but straining to go.
Preparations for the air strike began immediately, more than a week before the launch. The planning was shrouded in secrecy, most of it taking place in a secure basement.
The feeds included video of the intended targets, streaming in from the armed drones that were maintaining a round-the-clock watch overhead. The flight crews and B-2s—both primary and standby—were selected. On Wednesday evening, January 11, six days before the launch, the munitions squadron received orders to assemble several hundred bombs. The assembly involved 3, pieces and 78, pounds of explosives.
The task, starting Thursday morning at 5 a. The senior sergeant in charge knew that this was for real and not just another exercise.
Many of the people doing the work were young recruits, new to the Air Force, but they got the job done. Trust the training. He loved the Air Force for the lifestyle it had afforded him. He did not have to go into the field as he would have if he had joined the Army.
The sergeant was proud of his team. They got to see what they had raised their hands for, what they had signed up to do. In advance of the mission, the pilots were told to go home for a mandatory crew rest of three days, but they all had wives and young children, and that weekend there was an ice storm. Fatigue was of no concern to Scatter when he got the call on Monday afternoon to report for duty. He drove to the base in his paid-off Dodge Ram truck.
The flight across the Atlantic was smooth. At 35, feet the skies were clear. To avoid the political complications of overflying countries on such a raid, the route to the Mediterranean lay farther south than the shortest great-circle course. The pilots were in contact with oceanic air traffic control. Communication between military aircraft and controllers is routine, and necessary for safety in ordinary airspace; the controllers would have assumed that the B-2s were on a training mission.
The pilots were in contact as well with their Air Force mission controller in Louisiana. And they were busy. A quarter of their bombs had been programmed before takeoff to hit any vehicles or physical structures, but the rest of the bombs had to be programmed in flight based on the latest information coming from the drones—essentially, the precise geographic coordinates of individual isis fighters who could be seen settling in for the night.
That information began to flow to the airplanes two hours shy of their reaching the Mediterranean. The programming-and-confirmation process took hours. Night came quickly after a short day. Once they passed into the Mediterranean, the pilots used their radar to find three tankers that had come from Germany to meet them for their second refueling, and to map some thunderstorms that were active in the area at the time.
Because of its composite structure, the B-2 is particularly vulnerable to static discharges and lightning strikes, and is required to stay 40 miles away from thunderstorms—twice as far as other airplanes. During the refueling and afterward, the B-2 pilots spoke with European air traffic control.
The skies cleared. Approximately miles north of the Libyan coastline, the pilots turned south, switched off their transponders, and disappeared from air-traffic-control radar. They had now been flying for 15 hours. Still offshore, they went into a holding pattern that had been planned as a cushion to allow them to get the timing just right.
It was nearly midnight Zulu Time—two in the morning local time. They heard the mission controller order the drones to clear out to the south, and authorize them to return immediately after the strike to kill anyone who survived.
The drones were MQ-9 Reapers armed with laser-guided supersonic Hellfire missiles. Their pilots were sitting in front of control panels back in the United States. Scatter was surprised by the blanket authorization to fire. He had never heard that one before. The B-2s left the holding pattern and moved toward the camps at 35, feet, on autopilot, doing miles an hour. As the B-2s approached the coast, Scatter could see the lights of Misrata on the right and Benghazi on the left.
For some reason he thought of vacationing with his family in Europe. He told me that the view of Libya seemed surreal. The pilots crossed the coastline, entered their launch acceptability regions about 10 miles from their targets, opened their bomb-bay doors exactly on schedule, and released their weapons as planned. Scatter released 62 of his 80, and the other aircraft commander released That left 75 bombs in the airplanes should another attack be needed.
The B-2s did not lurch when the bombs were released. The bomber, expected to fly in , is smaller than the B-2 bomber it replaces. The bomber will not replace the s-era BH Stratofortress any time soon, which the service plans to fly through the s. At the time of its development the B-2 Spirit was one of the most expensive defense programs ever.
The Air Force originally planned to build bombers, but the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, coupled with runaway development and unit costs, caused the Pentagon to trim the number to just 21 B-2s.
I also flew a hour mission in the B-2 simulator , a flight required to become a B-2 pilot. These experiences have given me the opportunity to meet and gain a unique insight into the hidden heroes of the B-2 program—the workers who build her, those who maintain her, and those who fly her. One of the early Spirit number pilots, for instance, shared some non-classified but vital facts about the highly insular B-2 culture. We actively seek out pilots from every aviation platform in the military—even the other services—because we integrate the B-2 with those aircraft and their capabilities so intimately.
Twenty were initially combat-coded. One ground test-bed airframe, never meant to fly, was converted into a flyable combat-coded aircraft in , bringing the total to One aircraft was lost in an accident in Guam in Both pilots ejected and survived. Twenty are still in service today. They are Spirits No. Even with the remote likelihood of ever flying the B-2, your chances might be increased if this is your last name.
Then again, it is one of the most common last names in the U. The black jet, he explains, even with its amazing technology and low observable qualities, will take you only so far. With the notable exception of the Kosovo War sortie, the aircraft almost never flies alone.
Instead, it flies in enormously complex and layered strike packages among many different types of aircraft with varied roles during a mission. The previous experience of pilots coming into the B-2 cockpit fully reflects that approach. They may be highly experienced pilots or even recent graduates from military flight school.
I asked Shadow about that, and the intensity of his response told me everything I needed to know about the tight B-2 culture. We seek professionalism and humility in our corps, not gender or color.
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