On modernizing the B-2

http://www.afa.org/magazine/Nov2004/1104watch.asp

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Active Stealth for B-2

Improvements for B-2 stealthiness are available, if USAF wants to buy them.

At some point in the future, according to Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Government Relations Manager Harry H. Heimple, it will be necessary for the B-2 to employ “active” stealth—wherein the airplane feeds an inverse radar wave back to a radar transmitter, masking the aircraft electronically. Today, tracking radars are fooled by the B-2’s passive systems, where the radar signal is either redirected away from the transmitter or absorbed or attenuated by the aircraft’s skin and structure.

“The question is, when,” Heimple said. So far, the Air Force has not stated a requirement for the B-2 to have capability for active stealth, and the B-2 is considered highly effective against emerging air defense systems. Heimple said, though, that when the time comes, the processing power of computers already extant would make it “very feasible” to undertake this approach.

He also said the Air Force has not forgotten that the B-2 has space for a third seat in the cockpit, and Northrop has proposed several ideas for how to employ a possible third crew member.

So has the Air Force. One of the service’s ideas, Heimple reported, is to put a third pilot in the aircraft, both to spell the other crew members on particularly long missions and to provide in-flight target updates to the many weapons in the bomb bay. Modifications now under way will enable the entire fleet of B-2s to carry 80 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions on a single mission.

Heimple also reported that the B-2s will soon be able to carry highly asymmetric bomb loads. One bomb bay may be fitted with racks to carry 40 500-pound JDAMs, while the other may house a rotary launcher able to carry the large, 2,000-pound JDAMs and other weapons. Tests have shown that the B-2’s handling is not greatly affected by carrying a huge 25,000-pound bunker buster in one bay while the other bay is empty.

Although the Air Force has no stated requirement to put the 250-pound Small Diameter Bomb on the B-2, Heimple said racks could be developed to allow the B-2 to carry 240 of the weapons.

Another important upgrade would retrofit the B-2, which still has a nuclear attack mission, with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite data link system.

The chief drawback of modifying the fleet so slowly is that there is likely to be a perpetual mismatch in the configuration of the B-2s. Technology will advance rapidly in the seven years between programmed depot maintenance, meaning there will be significant differences between a B-2 at the front of the line and one at the end, Heimple noted.

In proposing ideas to the Air Force on future long-range strike options earlier this year, Northrop did not offer to restart the B-2 production line.