B2 Bomber - Is it really a viable weapon for the future ?

a reply to: Irishhaf

All stealth has some weather issues, although it's been mitigated a great deal since the early days of the F-117. They couldn't fly at all in any kind of weather.

The new coatings on the B-2 can withstand just about anything short of a direct lightning strike when it comes to weather. They just have to reskin them with it.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Irishhaf

All stealth has some weather issues, although it's been mitigated a great deal since the early days of the F-117. They couldn't fly at all in any kind of weather.

The new coatings on the B-2 can withstand just about anything short of a direct lightning strike when it comes to weather. They just have to reskin them with it.

wait , do you mean weather issues like they lost their stealthiness because of moisture / rain ?

a reply to: buntalanlucu

It's the nature of all stealth, especially in the early days.

Not sure if the B2 will be viable in the future depends on who we go to war with and if that said country is working on a way to make them worthless. If it's some southwest asian paradise then the B2 is just fine and generally overkill if we ever would use the air power to it's full extent at which case we wouldn't need it there again. If this is all we are ever gonna use them for then to me what is the use. This stuff and the eluded super platforms that some mention as several generations ahead isn't for stans it's for beating Russia or China. I hope it's all viable today to be honest.

Bottom line is the B-2 is probably one of our greatest assets we have in the military. Just the though alone is enough to deter a lot of countries. Sure the Chinese and Russians are developing ways to see them. That's been going on for years. But they could never see them enough to lock a missile at them. If I'm not mistaken, nobody has ever shot a missile at a b-2.

But I do agree that it depends on who were at war with. We will never go to war with Russia or China. Period. It doesn't make sense to go to war with either one if them. We may get into little tifs such as the crap in Ukraine or defending our allies with islands in the south China sea. But all out war doesn't make sense politically or economicly.

In regards to stealth, the only thing I've seen that's proven is the UK has a radar on one of their jets that can lock on an F-35 at 60 miles out. But by then it will be too late cause the F-35 will have launched an AMRAAM at 100 miles undetected. Plus they are our ally anyway.