Would Northrop Sell a B-2 to a Civilian?

I know it sounds far fetched but there are Americans that have the money. Itd be pretty hard to turn down 2billion. Remove the bombing hardware first of course. Northrop Grumman is a private comapny after all. It may not happen now but it may happen eventually. There are many people that privately own migs,F-14s and even F-15s. So think they can only sell stuff thats 30+ years old? The SR-71 is even older. I wonder if one could buy an SR-71? I dont see why not. They are half mothballed anyways. Talk about government surplus.

Text

Dont think it can happen? Theres a private super rich collector in I believe Washington state that privately own hundereds of fully functional historicaly significant aircraft. Anything from odd turn of the century stuff to P-51 mustangs to bi-planes and an 707!(History Channel Boys Toys) This loon has the only fully functional B-29 left in the world! It is in factory condition! WW2 era or not it is still a nuclear capable bomber that has terrifying capabilities and a range of thousands of miles.

Text

But back to the point. Eventually things like the B-2 will find their way into the hands of collectors. Even if its 50 years from now it will happen. I just dont think any private airport has a runway long enough for say an SR-71. Have any of you ever been to the Dulles Smithsonian Air and Space Museum? Most of this stuff is from private donors. Excerpt the SR-71 parked in the lobby and the space shuttle Enterprise among others.

It depends...personally, I think there are still quite a few classified components, so nope, no sell...

Don't think its going to get sold until its probably like 30 years after its been out of service, and still then the military avionics will probably be removed. And can you post some links or names of these people that have F-14's and F-15's.

As our good friend Ben Rich states, "We have things in the Nevada desert that you and the best minds in the world won't even be able to conceive that we have for 30 or 40 years, and won't be made public for another 50."
( of former head engineer to Kelly Johnson at Lockheed's 'Skunk Works' fame)

Well, Stealth Technology will one day be outdated, and one day we will have superior weaponry, so yeah, why not?

Can civilians have ANY weapon on private aircraft? would be damn cool to have a semi-automatic version of a M61 vulcan on a civil F-16 lol, you could say you would have it for hunting deer j/k

I do wonder, is there any laws against having any type of weapon mounted on a vehicle? how about weapons stored IN an aircraft?

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
how about weapons stored IN an aircraft?

And subtly connected to the flight stick/yoke buttons ? conventienty stored so that when jumped by miliitary jets you can take out a bit of your fusalage but attempt to take out the military jets without decompressing?

Explosive decompression seems to be nothing more than a myth however.

But I wasn't suggesting firing a gun inside the cabin...

haha not a chance, the government will probilly kill you and the company before you and the company do anything with dangarous stuff.

Yeah it is illegal here in the U.S. to mount any type of weapon in your car, boat or even airplane, unless you have some type of special license that requires you to have those weapons.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Yeah it is illegal here in the U.S. to mount any type of weapon in your car, boat or even airplane, unless you have some type of special license that requires you to have those weapons.

which i don't belived there is a special license... besides why do you need like a MOAB in you personal palne???

Explosive decompression is no myth, it's fact.

A bullet won't cause explosive decompression however, it's too small. It was on the Mythbusters.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Yeah it is illegal here in the U.S. to mount any type of weapon in your car, boat or even airplane, unless you have some type of special license that requires you to have those weapons.

Not true. It is legal, unless expressly made illegal. There are very few items that the US Gov. can regulate (basically bombs/machine guns/rifles over .50 cal) - however individual states can and do regulate smaller items. Some states have no restriction on having a legal (i.e. Not a 20MM gatling gun) weapon in your car whatsoever.

No, the B-2 will never be privatly owned.

The whole idea is dumb. Why? ..... Because its primary purpose is stealth, if your a citezen there is no reason that you dont want to be detected, what happens if you have engine trouble or are in a bad storm and need some sort of help, nobody would even know your in the air, or where your at. The military paid 2 billion apiece, oddly enough even without any bomb equiptment what-so-ever it would still cost you at far over 2 billion, possibly 2.5 billion or more. Thats because they would have to redesign the entire craft, if its to private jet you probably want it to hold a dozen or 2 dozen people, and of course they would want windows, but having people in it and other luxurious the plane wouldn't be as balanced, so there would be a lot of computer simulations to get every thing right.

and I think the person you are refering to is Paul Allen, which is the person who shelled out the 20 mill for Spaceship One, he has several vintage aircraft, like the Spitfire. and I am also unaware of any one individual who owns a F-14 or F-15.

In the US you cant go over mach 1, so that would make the SR-71 lose a lot of its appeal.

For now, the rich folks can go really close to the speed of sound with the Javelin.

I think the obvious answer is no, Northrop wouldn't sell you one.

You *might* be able to buy one in 30 or 40 years but by then Northrop won't have the machinery any more to build you one. You would buy one surplus from the government.


I read an article in Time magazine several years ago about the government's DRMO program and how bad it was. DRMO is the process of taking surplus stuff and reselling it. The article mentioned people buying computers that still had secret floppy disks in the drives. It mentioned one guy who bought a box labeled 'scrap electronic components' that was actually the guidance section of a Tomahawk missile. It said there was a guy in Texas who constantly bought anything surplus that related to the Apache. Supposedly he had a warehouse in Texas with 48 partial and three fully functional Apaches. One of them even had TOW missiles. He was quoted in the article saying he used the Apaches to go coyote hunting on his ranch.

Not true. It is legal, unless expressly made illegal. There are very few items that the US Gov. can regulate (basically bombs/machine guns/rifles over .50 cal) - however individual states can and do regulate smaller items. Some states have no restriction on having a legal (i.e. Not a 20MM gatling gun) weapon in your car whatsoever.

That's not what I meant I know you can carry or have legal weapons in your car, I meant like trying to weld a 50 cal on top of your car is illegal.

I had read somewhere that the government is so concern over more modern jets falling into civilian hands that they have started to make most modern (post 70s f14,f16s...) jets heavylity disassembled after they are retired. Supposedly the military was very worried after the Mig29 or whatever was sold on ebay not too long Ago. I think I had heard so somebody at least offering a f14 or something for civilian use not really sure it was around the time of the whole mig-ebay thing a while back. On topic question I seriously doubt that a B2 would be in civiilian hands in the forseable future, maybe and a very slim maybe in my opinion maybe some 10-20+ years AFTER it's retired which isn't anytime soon. I think that maybe a U2 might possible see civilian hands in the future.

Originally posted by ulshadow

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Yeah it is illegal here in the U.S. to mount any type of weapon in your car, boat or even airplane, unless you have some type of special license that requires you to have those weapons.

which i don't belived there is a special license... besides why do you need like a MOAB in you personal palne???

Actually, all it takes is the proper background check (by the FBI/CIA) and a bit of cash, and you can mount just about anything to a car or truck.

I know this because the owner of a shooting range near my beach house owns a pickup with a frigging fully auto Browning .50 cal mounted on the flat bed!

Granted, he was a former officer in the Army and worked in the CIA, but he said private citizens can get that type of stuff too. All it takes is a clean record, a background check, and cash.

I know for a fact that an F/A-18 was for sale on E-Bay. The aircraft was disassembled and missing some of the avionics. It was listed as being de-miled. I don't think that you will ever be able to buy a B-2. A B-2 is classified as a strategic weapon and there are international treaties governing it. If anyone remembers what happened to the B-52s eliminated by the SALT agreement. They were lined up in the boneyard out West and hacked to pieces. The pieces were left out in the open so that the Soviets could see the destroyed aircraft by satellite.

[edit on 16-4-2005 by JIMC5499]

Originally posted by JIMC5499
I know for a fact that an F/A-18 was for sale on E-Bay. The aircraft was disassembled and missing some of the avionics. It was listed as being de-miled. I don't think that you will ever be able to buy a B-2.
[edit on 16-4-2005 by JIMC5499]

Yes, there was an F/A-18 on ebay, it was a Blue Angels aircraft and was offered for $1million in parts (but ready to be assembled to a working aircraft) or $9million constructed and certified to fly. It wasnt ever supposed to be sold to a civilian, it looks like it was given to a museum but the military owners neglected to put in the standard 'not for resale without our consent' term in the sales agreement, and it found its way into private hands.

A B-2 is classified as a strategic weapon and there are international treaties governing it. If anyone remembers what happened to the B-52s eliminated by the SALT agreement. They were lined up in the boneyard out West and hacked to pieces. The pieces were left out in the open so that the Soviets could see the destroyed aircraft by satellite.

The Stategic weapons limitations are covered under SALT II rather than SALT I, and currently the US is not actually bound by the terms of SALT II because Congress never ratified the treaty (neither did the USSR for that matter). This means thta technically the B-2 isnt covered under the SALT treaties, as bombers were not covered under the Interim Stategic Arms agreement that was between SALT I and SALT II. Though then again, International Treaties have never really stood in the way of G W Bush, as his withdrawl from the Antibalistic Missile treaty shows.

Nice to see that once your 'enemy' doesnt have the means to argue, the treaties suddenly dont mean a damn.

[edit on 16/4/2005 by RichardPrice]

Explosive decompression is no myth, it's fact.

A bullet won't cause explosive decompression however, it's too small. It was on the Mythbusters.

That's what I meant, sorry about that, I have seen the same episode on mythbusters btw

I'd personally buy a T-38 Talon if I had the money, a nice 2-seater so I can take my wife for a flight too, That Javelin isn't too desimilar to the Talon with the only external differences i can see being the twin tail fins...but ofcourse there is probably alot of differences