Test drive bomber "Stealth": what will replace?
The Popular Mechanics correspondent received a rare opportunity to go on a flight on the stealth bomber B-2 and become a witness to a training operation. Moreover, he was allowed to the control levers, and now he will tell readers about his unusual experience.
A few years ago, the US administration allocated more than $ 6 billion to develop a new strategic bomber. According to experts, the entire project will require at least $ 120 billion. Since the development is still under a veil of secrecy, the editors of Popular Mechanics tried to imagine what the new aircraft would be like.
The airspace over the United States is streaked by invisible trajectories — these are highways with specified entry and exit points used by military aircraft for air refueling. Our highway has the number 16 and is oriented along the "west-east" line. We fly at an altitude of about 8000 m above the central regions of Missouri. Next to me in the cockpit of an invisible bomber B-2 is a pilot, captain Timothy Sullivan, named Scar.
We took the route on which the KC-135 Stratotanker tanker aircraft are flying. Ahead of us is waiting for a flight coupled with one of them at a speed of 720 km / h. During this time, we have to fill our fuel tanks to capacity. “Six more minutes, and tankers will be in our field of vision,” says Scar. I hear his voice from the speakers in my helmet. Without an intercom, his voice would have drowned in the roar of the engines of our bomber, named Spirit of Georgia.
The honor of flying in the cockpit of a B-2 bomber was awarded to about the same number of people as it had been in space. For all history cosmonautics out of our atmosphere escaped the whole 530 people. By the time of my flight, which took place at the end of 2012 of the year, only 543 people took off in the cockpit of the invisible plane Spirit. We will live to land, and I will become 544-m.
The stealth bomber cab is designed for two pilots sitting side by side. Probably, in 1980, when the aircraft was designed by Northrop Grumman, the design of the display devices looked like the last beep of fashion. There is an unassuming toilet in the cabin - it is a stainless steel toilet mounted behind the back of the right seat right next to the secret communication servers. Naturally, there is no partition here. There, behind the seats, fits a two-meter horizontal plane, where you can get a nap, although many prefer to just stretch out on the floor. This is useful, because the flight time of the B-2 is often measured in two-digit numbers. “I can doze off in any place and in any posture,” says Scar, “but for some reason I can't sleep in the B-2 booth.”
Thanks to refueling in the air
B-2 aircraft is able to reach targets anywhere in the world, taking off from the United States. The new bomber will get more payload and increased range.
Refueling in the air
From a distance of 15 km, the strategic tankers, which are as long as 40 m, look like small dots. However, as we approach, we already clearly see the outline of the aircraft belonging to the 128-th aircraft wing of the US National Guard tankers.
And then I watch a well-rehearsed dance in the air. The aircraft needing refueling is attached at the back and just below the tanker.
A telescopic filling boom extends from the KS-135. At its end - the fitting, which should exactly get into the tiny hatch in the plating of a bomber. The pump is turned on, and both aircraft continue to fly in the meantime, precisely coordinating their movements with each other.
When I listened to the story of these manipulations during the pre-flight briefing, everything was clear, logical and rational, however, as soon as we crept close to the tanker and its feed closed the entire view through the windshield, the refueling operation seemed to me pure madness. Rubbing at a distance of four meters to another plane and hold this position minute by minute - this thought alone seemed wild. The brain in the skull box was cold with horror.
The scar is attached at the tail of the aircraft tanker, and I see his every movement when he corrects the position of his bomber. And this is at a distance, when you can literally find out before the tanker. The operator controlling the filling boom is watching us through a small window in the tail of the KS-135, and we see the expression on his face. Fortunately, by reducing the distance between the aircraft to the limit, we move out of the zone of turbulence, that is, our bomber falls into a stable bubble of rarefied air formed behind the tailor's tail.
The B-2 aircraft filling hatch is located in the upper part of its fuselage, so Scar doesn’t see how far the tanker’s boarder is now separated from the receiving neck. He can only see the light signals that light up on the tanker fuselage, which tell him in which direction to shift. Another clue - framing the windshield. The pilot has long known what should fit into this frame when he brings his plane to the desired position. And now all the corrective maneuvers are completed, the docking signal lights up on the dashboard screen, and tons of fuel poured into the bomber along the boom.
On full tanks, the B-2 is able to fly around 10 000 km, but if you fly from Missouri to the Middle East and back, you will have to refuel several more times in the air. I asked the pilot what they were doing in case of strong atmospheric turbulence or other weather troubles. “And what are the options? Refuel, ”said Scar, and in his voice there was not so much bravado as humility. “After all, you cannot reach anywhere without fuel.”
Invisible aircraft B-2 is considered to be the most technically perfect of all the bombers of the world, however, much would be worth improving in it. I asked my neighbor in the cockpit what he wanted from the new bomber, and heard in my headphones: “Longer range. To refuel less often.
Confrontation with equal
The war in Afghanistan is gradually subsiding, and America is redistributing its strategic accents. Instead of preparing for direct clashes with a poorly armed enemy, leading guerrilla actions, the Pentagon thought about possible confrontations with strong national states that have quite modern weapons. Among military experts such potential adversaries are called "equal" (peer) or "almost equal" (near-peer) in military power.
In 2011, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon will now pay more attention to the situation in Asia, which must be considered "the key to the entire Pacific region." Behind these words emerges a strategy directed specifically against China - the strongest in the world of "almost equal" opponents.
This reversal in strategic thinking has breathed new life into the development program of the new stealth bomber, which was then closed in 2009 by then Defense Secretary Robert Gates. A long-range strike bomber can fly far beyond the reach of Chinese cruise and ballistic missiles, and its anti-radar masking systems will overcome the air defense barrier that is maintained at a very high level in this country. (See the article “War of the Invisibles”, “PM” No. 11'2012.) In addition, a bomber can return to the base in a matter of hours in order to replenish its ammunition, which compares favorably with a submarine or surface ship.
This advantage can be very important in long military campaigns.
So far, the war between the Chinese (as well as some other) developers of new air defense systems and the US Air Force is fought only under the roofs of the hangars. At first glance, the surface of the fuselage and wings of the B-2 seems just black. But Senior Sergeant Jessie Phillips, a young aircraft technician who has never done anything other than servicing Whiteman-based B-2 aircraft, is able to see a complex pattern on this black skin. In some places, the coating material is chosen so as to absorb waves from the radar, in others the reflection of radio waves is directed across the fuselage to its back side.
In general, the task of such facing is that none of the waves sent back to the devices of the enemy. “We are constantly interacting with the engineers at the Tinker Air Force Base (where the main air logistics center of Oklahoma is located), receiving from them updated techniques and corrections to technical data,” says Phillips. “We need to always keep one step ahead in races with the enemy, because on the other side they always try our cloaking tools on their teeth.” And the longer the B-2 remains in service, the harder it will be like Philips to stay a step ahead of the potential adversary.
The idea of developing a new bomber in the hope of confrontation with an equivalent adversary almost chokes on the stream of criticism - especially from the side of fighters for disarmament. William Hartung, head of the Arms and Security theme at the Center for International Politics, in his February speech expressed the opinion of all these opponents, calling for “to close or cut funding for projects such as developing a new bomber with nuclear missiles ... because such a technique is relevant only in the cold war. ”
The danger of an unexpected massive strike by nuclear missiles has now practically come to naught, so a bomber designed to deliver atomic bombs can hardly be considered as a priority. On the other hand, the presence of nuclear warheads, which are always maintained in full combat readiness, may be a factor preventing the escalation of traditional war into a nuclear conflict.
This is the opinion of Eli Jacobs, coordinator of a program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "The losing side, in an effort to put an end to a military conflict, could dare and inflict limited nuclear strikes," he wrote on the CSIS website. Having the means of nuclear deterrence on hand, it is easier, in his opinion, not to bring the situation to such a catastrophic development.
However, the main purpose of the new American bomber will not be dropping nuclear bombs, but the use of weapons of other types. The US Air Force specified these priorities last year, when aviation management officially announced that the new aircraft will be primarily intended for the delivery of non-nuclear ammunition. True, this contradicts the position of the Pentagon itself, which initially prepared the B-2 for equipping with nuclear weapons several years before this aircraft was equipped with traditional weapons.
Brigadier General Thomas Bassier, the commander of the 509-m bomber, based on Whiteman, knows that twenty of his planes are a very effective tool for influencing (i.e., simply catching fear) on various criminal regimes. “I dare say that many of our B-2 people are not allowed to sleep at night,” he says.
For every hour of flight B-2, there are 55 hours of maintenance
Most of the time is spent on the restoration of the masking coating. Aerodrome mechanics, such as Sergeant Jesse Phillips, can easily recognize aircraft by sight. “Each of these aircraft has its own character,” says the sergeant.
Invasion mode
The B-2 pilots have not used traditional sights for bombing in their work for a long time and are not too tight on the trigger. At their disposal buttons and keyboard. The plane itself will calculate the correct time to drop the bomb, while taking into account the current speed. It will automatically open bomb bomb racks and release ammunition, either from a bomb rack or from a rotary starter.
From official reports it is known that B-2 is capable of dropping 80 uncontrollable bombs, and so that each of them will fall no further than 150 m from a given target, in addition, it can carry up to 16 ammunition such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) - 900 kilogram free-fall bombs that are turned into homing. For this it was enough to provide them with controlled stabilizers, correcting the course of the falling projectile. With the release of bombs such as JDAM pyrobolts explode. “You can feel your back right in the cockpit as the plane shoots its ammunition,” says Schram.
The capabilities of the B-2 aircraft were vividly demonstrated when, in March 2011, he participated in a night raid on Libya. “We hit 45 from 48's planned targets, using high-precision weapons for this,” Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of the “global” strike command for the Air Force, told us. - All of these goals were well-protected aircraft shelters. It was here that Gaddafi realized that his shelters were not so well protected, and indeed, by and large, they were not shelters at all. ”
On the panel B-2 there is a button - a little more than a laptop key. It says PEN, which means "penetration", that is, "invasion." When the pilot presses this button, the aircraft prepares to invade the protected airspace. In this case, telescopic antennas are drawn in, the signals used for communication are strictly limited, all other sources are turned off, which could detect the presence of an invisible bomber in the air.
An invisible aircraft is not just optimized fuselage lines and radar absorbing coating. It is also a specific strategy. Here is an example. The B-2 is easier to spot on the radar screen when it is directed sideways to the observation station, but it is much harder to detect when it is flying directly to the radar. Therefore, B-2 pilots plan their attacks in such a way as to take into account this specificity, and their flight path is a broken line. Scar calls this technique "peak control."
The moral is this: there are still no such aircraft that would be completely invisible on radar screens, so the less time the aircraft spends in the protected space, the better. On the other hand, the B-2 is not very capable of making sharp jerks, picking up speed steeply. Next-generation bombers will have engines operating in two modes — economical and allowing sharp accelerations. (See the “Future Engine: An Inside Look” section.)
Right here, in flight, Scar shows me how the B-2 can capture images of the landscapes lying below it, using a radar pulse reflected from the ground. When I said that thanks to such abilities, this bomber, in fact, becomes a reconnaissance aircraft, the pilot didn’t look at me too friendly. It seems I got him in a sore point.
As the Pentagon strategists argue, a bomber capable of fooling enemy radars can simply patrol in enemy airspace, collecting video images, intercepting enemy messages and performing the functions of a radio relay station for troops operating under it. True, this idea initially did not please the staff of the Whiteman base.
When I asked the pilot what he thought about using the future bomber as a reconnaissance aircraft, he replied to me with a polite skeptical pin addressed to theorists from the Air Force command: “What, they want to make a gag in all the barrels? So that we grasp at everything, but do everything mediocre? ”
The question is serious, and so far the Pentagon has not been able to answer it. “These topics are still classified,” says Kowalski, “and much of it here, frankly, is simply not thought through to the end.”
Captain Sullivan is two meters tall -
This is a bit too much for a close cockpit, but the bosses went to meet the pilot, allowing him to fly. However, if there is a bailout, he will inevitably hook his knees on the dashboard.
Spirit 544 in my hands
Suddenly, for no apparent reason Scar asks me on the intercom question: "Do you want to steer?" I did not immediately agree. Another B-2 flies with us in a pair, cutting clouds over six kilometers in front of us, it looks like a flying saucer. Suppose the situation turns out in the most unfavorable way, and I will put at risk ten percent of all the shock American long-range aviation forces and thus at least a little, but still break the delicate balance of weapons.
Scar sitting next to him did not express any doubt. The pilot of his level is absolutely confident in his ability to correct any situation in which I could start his plane. Especially at that height. In addition, Scar has a diploma instructor, that is, he is one of the few pilots of the Air Force who are trained to fly a B-2 aircraft alone, without any outside help.
“So the plane is in your hands,” he says, and shifts control. I put my left, suddenly sweaty hand on the throttle grip, and my right hand - on the control joystick. “Transfer our beauty to the other side,” says Scar, meaning that Spirit of Georgia should cross the trajectory of the presenter and settle down behind it on the left side.
I shyly move the joystick to the left and see the horizon tilting. “Go ahead,” says the pilot, “do not be afraid, do not break it.” I press more resolutely, and the bomber, as it were, takes to the left by itself. All maneuvers performed by the aircraft, which was built for long service and distant flights, occur slowly and smoothly. Spirit of Georgia obediently responds to the pilot's will, the maximum speed is almost 1000 km / h, but when you hold the reins in your hands, it does not seem to be a quick filly.
We smoothly change the position behind the tail of the lead B-2. The turnaround is complete, I level the course, so that the Spirit returns to horizontal flight, and I add speed to catch up with the lead. My blood is boiling with adrenaline. And in this rapid moment, I feel - indeed, the colossus obeys me.
How did the “flying wing” scheme evolve?
June 1946 year Test pilot Max Stanley makes a flight to XB-35, the distant ancestor of the current B-2. Decades of technical development are still waiting for this idea until such a device becomes sufficiently stable in flight to participate in hostilities.
November 1981 years
Northrop Grumman wins the tender for the development of a flying wing bomber.
February 1982 years
The flights of the Tacit Blue prototype begin. The data obtained from these tests will be used to design the contours of the B-2 bomber.
July 1989 years
B-2 flies in the sky over California for the first time.
April 1997 years
Air Force officials say that B-2 is now capable of dropping non-nuclear bombs.
March 1999 years
Two Spirit bombers strike at Yugoslavia. At the same time satellite bombs are used. This is the first use of the B-2 in real combat.
October 2001 years
B-2 aircraft bombed Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks on 2001.
March 2003 years
B-2 airplanes launch the Shock and Awe military campaign (Shock and Awe) in Iraq. 900-kg bombs hit the targets, but Saddam Hussein could not be killed.
February 2008 years
In Guam, the B-2 crashes due to the failure of airspeed sensors. No casualties. As the aircraft mechanic Thomas Anderson said, “for us this news sounded like a Kennedy murder report. ”
March 2011 years
Three B-2, arriving from Missouri, destroy all Libyan air forces on the ground in one evening.
February 2012 years
The Obama administration, when formulating a budget for 2013, requests $ 6,3 billion for the development of a new bomber, promising its release to 2025.
January 2013 years
The Pentagon confirms that the stealth aircraft B-2 is capable of carrying GBU-57 ammunition. This is a 14-ton bomb that explodes only after it has sewed tens of meters of concrete protection.
What it will be: experts on promising bomber
Avoid unique parts
Mechanics from Whiteman's air base complain that the suppliers of aircraft parts have gone somewhere: many of these firms are gone. “The system should be designed to meet the requirements for its maximum durability,” says one of the suppliers of the airbase, “for B-2, this problem has become a real curse.”
Dump the fuel tanks?
Fixed under the wings disposable fuel tanks - a dubious decision, because they will be perfectly visible on the radar screens. Nevertheless, the former head of the US Air Force Department, Michael Wynn, suggested returning to this idea, since, nevertheless, most of the flight usually runs over friendly territories. When the tanks are emptied, the plane will reset the unnecessary ballast, and all masking functions will be restored.
Not only bombs
On board the next generation aircraft will be installed the latest, very exotic weapons, such as cybernetic. "The flying platform, invisible invading enemy airspace, stuffed with the most advanced avionics, in the case of a cyber war is just a fantastic fighting machine," says aerospace analyst Richard Abulafia (Teal Group).
The engine of the future: an inside look
Flexible mode
Major engine manufacturers such as Pratt & Whitney and GE Aviation are now developing engines that can change operating modes. “The engine has to adapt to changing requirements in flight,” says Jimmy Reed, P&W Advanced Programs Manager. If the aircraft needs to accelerate sharply, air flows from the fan (in the diagram they are marked in green) are directed around the compressors and turbines. This mode will provide increased traction, but it is only effective at high speeds.
Turbine blades
GE has developed ceramic matrix composites for use in the hottest areas of the engine. This applies to dampers and blades in high and low pressure turbines. The higher the temperature that the engine can withstand (especially hot streams are marked orange), the more thrust it produces.
Digital control
A slight change to the thrust vector yields brilliant results. Turning the jet stream a few degrees, we provide sharper turns and generally improve the behavior of the aircraft in the air. Now all aircraft manufacturers supplying their products to the Air Force connect the engine with the aircraft’s on-board computer. Having received the command of the pilot to maneuver, he automatically turns the nozzle.
More air
In modern turbojet engines, two air streams are formed - along the inner and outer contours. In one of the Air Force programs, a design with an additional third airflow (marked with blue) is considered. If the flow from the fan is directed not along the "green", but along the "blue" direction, the engine loses its power, but wins in low noise and economy. The cold air of the third circuit can be added to the jet stream, cooling it and reducing its visibility for thermal guidance sensors.
A few years ago, the US administration allocated more than $ 6 billion to develop a new strategic bomber. According to experts, the entire project will require at least $ 120 billion. Since the development is still under a veil of secrecy, the editors of Popular Mechanics tried to imagine what the new aircraft would be like.
The airspace over the United States is streaked by invisible trajectories — these are highways with specified entry and exit points used by military aircraft for air refueling. Our highway has the number 16 and is oriented along the "west-east" line. We fly at an altitude of about 8000 m above the central regions of Missouri. Next to me in the cockpit of an invisible bomber B-2 is a pilot, captain Timothy Sullivan, named Scar.
We took the route on which the KC-135 Stratotanker tanker aircraft are flying. Ahead of us is waiting for a flight coupled with one of them at a speed of 720 km / h. During this time, we have to fill our fuel tanks to capacity. “Six more minutes, and tankers will be in our field of vision,” says Scar. I hear his voice from the speakers in my helmet. Without an intercom, his voice would have drowned in the roar of the engines of our bomber, named Spirit of Georgia.
The honor of flying in the cockpit of a B-2 bomber was awarded to about the same number of people as it had been in space. For all history cosmonautics out of our atmosphere escaped the whole 530 people. By the time of my flight, which took place at the end of 2012 of the year, only 543 people took off in the cockpit of the invisible plane Spirit. We will live to land, and I will become 544-m.
The stealth bomber cab is designed for two pilots sitting side by side. Probably, in 1980, when the aircraft was designed by Northrop Grumman, the design of the display devices looked like the last beep of fashion. There is an unassuming toilet in the cabin - it is a stainless steel toilet mounted behind the back of the right seat right next to the secret communication servers. Naturally, there is no partition here. There, behind the seats, fits a two-meter horizontal plane, where you can get a nap, although many prefer to just stretch out on the floor. This is useful, because the flight time of the B-2 is often measured in two-digit numbers. “I can doze off in any place and in any posture,” says Scar, “but for some reason I can't sleep in the B-2 booth.”
Thanks to refueling in the air
B-2 aircraft is able to reach targets anywhere in the world, taking off from the United States. The new bomber will get more payload and increased range.
Refueling in the air
From a distance of 15 km, the strategic tankers, which are as long as 40 m, look like small dots. However, as we approach, we already clearly see the outline of the aircraft belonging to the 128-th aircraft wing of the US National Guard tankers.
And then I watch a well-rehearsed dance in the air. The aircraft needing refueling is attached at the back and just below the tanker.
A telescopic filling boom extends from the KS-135. At its end - the fitting, which should exactly get into the tiny hatch in the plating of a bomber. The pump is turned on, and both aircraft continue to fly in the meantime, precisely coordinating their movements with each other.
When I listened to the story of these manipulations during the pre-flight briefing, everything was clear, logical and rational, however, as soon as we crept close to the tanker and its feed closed the entire view through the windshield, the refueling operation seemed to me pure madness. Rubbing at a distance of four meters to another plane and hold this position minute by minute - this thought alone seemed wild. The brain in the skull box was cold with horror.
The scar is attached at the tail of the aircraft tanker, and I see his every movement when he corrects the position of his bomber. And this is at a distance, when you can literally find out before the tanker. The operator controlling the filling boom is watching us through a small window in the tail of the KS-135, and we see the expression on his face. Fortunately, by reducing the distance between the aircraft to the limit, we move out of the zone of turbulence, that is, our bomber falls into a stable bubble of rarefied air formed behind the tailor's tail.
The B-2 aircraft filling hatch is located in the upper part of its fuselage, so Scar doesn’t see how far the tanker’s boarder is now separated from the receiving neck. He can only see the light signals that light up on the tanker fuselage, which tell him in which direction to shift. Another clue - framing the windshield. The pilot has long known what should fit into this frame when he brings his plane to the desired position. And now all the corrective maneuvers are completed, the docking signal lights up on the dashboard screen, and tons of fuel poured into the bomber along the boom.
On full tanks, the B-2 is able to fly around 10 000 km, but if you fly from Missouri to the Middle East and back, you will have to refuel several more times in the air. I asked the pilot what they were doing in case of strong atmospheric turbulence or other weather troubles. “And what are the options? Refuel, ”said Scar, and in his voice there was not so much bravado as humility. “After all, you cannot reach anywhere without fuel.”
Invisible aircraft B-2 is considered to be the most technically perfect of all the bombers of the world, however, much would be worth improving in it. I asked my neighbor in the cockpit what he wanted from the new bomber, and heard in my headphones: “Longer range. To refuel less often.
Confrontation with equal
The war in Afghanistan is gradually subsiding, and America is redistributing its strategic accents. Instead of preparing for direct clashes with a poorly armed enemy, leading guerrilla actions, the Pentagon thought about possible confrontations with strong national states that have quite modern weapons. Among military experts such potential adversaries are called "equal" (peer) or "almost equal" (near-peer) in military power.
In 2011, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon will now pay more attention to the situation in Asia, which must be considered "the key to the entire Pacific region." Behind these words emerges a strategy directed specifically against China - the strongest in the world of "almost equal" opponents.
This reversal in strategic thinking has breathed new life into the development program of the new stealth bomber, which was then closed in 2009 by then Defense Secretary Robert Gates. A long-range strike bomber can fly far beyond the reach of Chinese cruise and ballistic missiles, and its anti-radar masking systems will overcome the air defense barrier that is maintained at a very high level in this country. (See the article “War of the Invisibles”, “PM” No. 11'2012.) In addition, a bomber can return to the base in a matter of hours in order to replenish its ammunition, which compares favorably with a submarine or surface ship.
This advantage can be very important in long military campaigns.
So far, the war between the Chinese (as well as some other) developers of new air defense systems and the US Air Force is fought only under the roofs of the hangars. At first glance, the surface of the fuselage and wings of the B-2 seems just black. But Senior Sergeant Jessie Phillips, a young aircraft technician who has never done anything other than servicing Whiteman-based B-2 aircraft, is able to see a complex pattern on this black skin. In some places, the coating material is chosen so as to absorb waves from the radar, in others the reflection of radio waves is directed across the fuselage to its back side.
In general, the task of such facing is that none of the waves sent back to the devices of the enemy. “We are constantly interacting with the engineers at the Tinker Air Force Base (where the main air logistics center of Oklahoma is located), receiving from them updated techniques and corrections to technical data,” says Phillips. “We need to always keep one step ahead in races with the enemy, because on the other side they always try our cloaking tools on their teeth.” And the longer the B-2 remains in service, the harder it will be like Philips to stay a step ahead of the potential adversary.
The idea of developing a new bomber in the hope of confrontation with an equivalent adversary almost chokes on the stream of criticism - especially from the side of fighters for disarmament. William Hartung, head of the Arms and Security theme at the Center for International Politics, in his February speech expressed the opinion of all these opponents, calling for “to close or cut funding for projects such as developing a new bomber with nuclear missiles ... because such a technique is relevant only in the cold war. ”
The danger of an unexpected massive strike by nuclear missiles has now practically come to naught, so a bomber designed to deliver atomic bombs can hardly be considered as a priority. On the other hand, the presence of nuclear warheads, which are always maintained in full combat readiness, may be a factor preventing the escalation of traditional war into a nuclear conflict.
This is the opinion of Eli Jacobs, coordinator of a program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "The losing side, in an effort to put an end to a military conflict, could dare and inflict limited nuclear strikes," he wrote on the CSIS website. Having the means of nuclear deterrence on hand, it is easier, in his opinion, not to bring the situation to such a catastrophic development.
However, the main purpose of the new American bomber will not be dropping nuclear bombs, but the use of weapons of other types. The US Air Force specified these priorities last year, when aviation management officially announced that the new aircraft will be primarily intended for the delivery of non-nuclear ammunition. True, this contradicts the position of the Pentagon itself, which initially prepared the B-2 for equipping with nuclear weapons several years before this aircraft was equipped with traditional weapons.
Brigadier General Thomas Bassier, the commander of the 509-m bomber, based on Whiteman, knows that twenty of his planes are a very effective tool for influencing (i.e., simply catching fear) on various criminal regimes. “I dare say that many of our B-2 people are not allowed to sleep at night,” he says.
For every hour of flight B-2, there are 55 hours of maintenance
Most of the time is spent on the restoration of the masking coating. Aerodrome mechanics, such as Sergeant Jesse Phillips, can easily recognize aircraft by sight. “Each of these aircraft has its own character,” says the sergeant.
Invasion mode
The B-2 pilots have not used traditional sights for bombing in their work for a long time and are not too tight on the trigger. At their disposal buttons and keyboard. The plane itself will calculate the correct time to drop the bomb, while taking into account the current speed. It will automatically open bomb bomb racks and release ammunition, either from a bomb rack or from a rotary starter.
From official reports it is known that B-2 is capable of dropping 80 uncontrollable bombs, and so that each of them will fall no further than 150 m from a given target, in addition, it can carry up to 16 ammunition such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) - 900 kilogram free-fall bombs that are turned into homing. For this it was enough to provide them with controlled stabilizers, correcting the course of the falling projectile. With the release of bombs such as JDAM pyrobolts explode. “You can feel your back right in the cockpit as the plane shoots its ammunition,” says Schram.
The capabilities of the B-2 aircraft were vividly demonstrated when, in March 2011, he participated in a night raid on Libya. “We hit 45 from 48's planned targets, using high-precision weapons for this,” Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of the “global” strike command for the Air Force, told us. - All of these goals were well-protected aircraft shelters. It was here that Gaddafi realized that his shelters were not so well protected, and indeed, by and large, they were not shelters at all. ”
On the panel B-2 there is a button - a little more than a laptop key. It says PEN, which means "penetration", that is, "invasion." When the pilot presses this button, the aircraft prepares to invade the protected airspace. In this case, telescopic antennas are drawn in, the signals used for communication are strictly limited, all other sources are turned off, which could detect the presence of an invisible bomber in the air.
An invisible aircraft is not just optimized fuselage lines and radar absorbing coating. It is also a specific strategy. Here is an example. The B-2 is easier to spot on the radar screen when it is directed sideways to the observation station, but it is much harder to detect when it is flying directly to the radar. Therefore, B-2 pilots plan their attacks in such a way as to take into account this specificity, and their flight path is a broken line. Scar calls this technique "peak control."
The moral is this: there are still no such aircraft that would be completely invisible on radar screens, so the less time the aircraft spends in the protected space, the better. On the other hand, the B-2 is not very capable of making sharp jerks, picking up speed steeply. Next-generation bombers will have engines operating in two modes — economical and allowing sharp accelerations. (See the “Future Engine: An Inside Look” section.)
Right here, in flight, Scar shows me how the B-2 can capture images of the landscapes lying below it, using a radar pulse reflected from the ground. When I said that thanks to such abilities, this bomber, in fact, becomes a reconnaissance aircraft, the pilot didn’t look at me too friendly. It seems I got him in a sore point.
As the Pentagon strategists argue, a bomber capable of fooling enemy radars can simply patrol in enemy airspace, collecting video images, intercepting enemy messages and performing the functions of a radio relay station for troops operating under it. True, this idea initially did not please the staff of the Whiteman base.
When I asked the pilot what he thought about using the future bomber as a reconnaissance aircraft, he replied to me with a polite skeptical pin addressed to theorists from the Air Force command: “What, they want to make a gag in all the barrels? So that we grasp at everything, but do everything mediocre? ”
The question is serious, and so far the Pentagon has not been able to answer it. “These topics are still classified,” says Kowalski, “and much of it here, frankly, is simply not thought through to the end.”
Captain Sullivan is two meters tall -
This is a bit too much for a close cockpit, but the bosses went to meet the pilot, allowing him to fly. However, if there is a bailout, he will inevitably hook his knees on the dashboard.
Spirit 544 in my hands
Suddenly, for no apparent reason Scar asks me on the intercom question: "Do you want to steer?" I did not immediately agree. Another B-2 flies with us in a pair, cutting clouds over six kilometers in front of us, it looks like a flying saucer. Suppose the situation turns out in the most unfavorable way, and I will put at risk ten percent of all the shock American long-range aviation forces and thus at least a little, but still break the delicate balance of weapons.
Scar sitting next to him did not express any doubt. The pilot of his level is absolutely confident in his ability to correct any situation in which I could start his plane. Especially at that height. In addition, Scar has a diploma instructor, that is, he is one of the few pilots of the Air Force who are trained to fly a B-2 aircraft alone, without any outside help.
“So the plane is in your hands,” he says, and shifts control. I put my left, suddenly sweaty hand on the throttle grip, and my right hand - on the control joystick. “Transfer our beauty to the other side,” says Scar, meaning that Spirit of Georgia should cross the trajectory of the presenter and settle down behind it on the left side.
I shyly move the joystick to the left and see the horizon tilting. “Go ahead,” says the pilot, “do not be afraid, do not break it.” I press more resolutely, and the bomber, as it were, takes to the left by itself. All maneuvers performed by the aircraft, which was built for long service and distant flights, occur slowly and smoothly. Spirit of Georgia obediently responds to the pilot's will, the maximum speed is almost 1000 km / h, but when you hold the reins in your hands, it does not seem to be a quick filly.
We smoothly change the position behind the tail of the lead B-2. The turnaround is complete, I level the course, so that the Spirit returns to horizontal flight, and I add speed to catch up with the lead. My blood is boiling with adrenaline. And in this rapid moment, I feel - indeed, the colossus obeys me.
How did the “flying wing” scheme evolve?
June 1946 year Test pilot Max Stanley makes a flight to XB-35, the distant ancestor of the current B-2. Decades of technical development are still waiting for this idea until such a device becomes sufficiently stable in flight to participate in hostilities.
November 1981 years
Northrop Grumman wins the tender for the development of a flying wing bomber.
February 1982 years
The flights of the Tacit Blue prototype begin. The data obtained from these tests will be used to design the contours of the B-2 bomber.
July 1989 years
B-2 flies in the sky over California for the first time.
April 1997 years
Air Force officials say that B-2 is now capable of dropping non-nuclear bombs.
March 1999 years
Two Spirit bombers strike at Yugoslavia. At the same time satellite bombs are used. This is the first use of the B-2 in real combat.
October 2001 years
B-2 aircraft bombed Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks on 2001.
March 2003 years
B-2 airplanes launch the Shock and Awe military campaign (Shock and Awe) in Iraq. 900-kg bombs hit the targets, but Saddam Hussein could not be killed.
February 2008 years
In Guam, the B-2 crashes due to the failure of airspeed sensors. No casualties. As the aircraft mechanic Thomas Anderson said, “for us this news sounded like a Kennedy murder report. ”
March 2011 years
Three B-2, arriving from Missouri, destroy all Libyan air forces on the ground in one evening.
February 2012 years
The Obama administration, when formulating a budget for 2013, requests $ 6,3 billion for the development of a new bomber, promising its release to 2025.
January 2013 years
The Pentagon confirms that the stealth aircraft B-2 is capable of carrying GBU-57 ammunition. This is a 14-ton bomb that explodes only after it has sewed tens of meters of concrete protection.
What it will be: experts on promising bomber
Avoid unique parts
Mechanics from Whiteman's air base complain that the suppliers of aircraft parts have gone somewhere: many of these firms are gone. “The system should be designed to meet the requirements for its maximum durability,” says one of the suppliers of the airbase, “for B-2, this problem has become a real curse.”
Dump the fuel tanks?
Fixed under the wings disposable fuel tanks - a dubious decision, because they will be perfectly visible on the radar screens. Nevertheless, the former head of the US Air Force Department, Michael Wynn, suggested returning to this idea, since, nevertheless, most of the flight usually runs over friendly territories. When the tanks are emptied, the plane will reset the unnecessary ballast, and all masking functions will be restored.
Not only bombs
On board the next generation aircraft will be installed the latest, very exotic weapons, such as cybernetic. "The flying platform, invisible invading enemy airspace, stuffed with the most advanced avionics, in the case of a cyber war is just a fantastic fighting machine," says aerospace analyst Richard Abulafia (Teal Group).
The engine of the future: an inside look
Flexible mode
Major engine manufacturers such as Pratt & Whitney and GE Aviation are now developing engines that can change operating modes. “The engine has to adapt to changing requirements in flight,” says Jimmy Reed, P&W Advanced Programs Manager. If the aircraft needs to accelerate sharply, air flows from the fan (in the diagram they are marked in green) are directed around the compressors and turbines. This mode will provide increased traction, but it is only effective at high speeds.
Turbine blades
GE has developed ceramic matrix composites for use in the hottest areas of the engine. This applies to dampers and blades in high and low pressure turbines. The higher the temperature that the engine can withstand (especially hot streams are marked orange), the more thrust it produces.
Digital control
A slight change to the thrust vector yields brilliant results. Turning the jet stream a few degrees, we provide sharper turns and generally improve the behavior of the aircraft in the air. Now all aircraft manufacturers supplying their products to the Air Force connect the engine with the aircraft’s on-board computer. Having received the command of the pilot to maneuver, he automatically turns the nozzle.
More air
In modern turbojet engines, two air streams are formed - along the inner and outer contours. In one of the Air Force programs, a design with an additional third airflow (marked with blue) is considered. If the flow from the fan is directed not along the "green", but along the "blue" direction, the engine loses its power, but wins in low noise and economy. The cold air of the third circuit can be added to the jet stream, cooling it and reducing its visibility for thermal guidance sensors.
Information