May 20: Arms ammunition, plane and military videos are always a fancy and feast for eyes to common mass. We all may have seen some or other videos of planes often before in movie or TV screens, where brave-hearts fight with the wrong-ones. Yes, this is that one: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber.
The B-2 is a heavy strategic bomber, was designed during the Cold War as a sub-somic bomber to deploy both conventional and thermonuclear weapons. This featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses.
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is reputedly the world’s most expensive aircraft since 1997.
The reported initial cost per unit was $737 million dollars in 1997. But costs went up by the time it was inducted in the United States Air Force. The total program cost averaged $2.13 billion per aircraft.
For comparison, the world’s most expensive jet, Air Force One, comes at $660 million.
A modified Airbus A380 was reportedly made for Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal al-Saud for Rs $600million.
Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov’s Airbus A340-300 costs between $350-500 million dollars.
The B-2’s combat debut was in 1999, during the Kosovo War. It also saw service in Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom. And in Libya, during Operation Odyssey Dawn. It also played a role in some other combats.
