If the B2 is the best new bomber in the world, why did we make only 21 of them.?

Question

Yankidee_1-I am the military man of the group. 21 aircraft of any type and cost is not enough to carry out any mission. The B52 is 60 years old. The B1B was a mistake from the beginning. The B2 should have been made with a quanity of at least 200. They carry twice the conventional bombload of a B52. They drink Jet Fuel in Tea Cups instead of strainers like the B52. Congress needs to realize that the Air Force needs weapons platforms that can deliver munitions accurately and swiftly. We do not have that capiblity anymore.

Answer 1

there you go Bill,
I was going to say $$$ however if you scoll down you see people with exact figures--plus listen to Moserckn- they were just that good--
How come you don't know this I thought you were the military man of the group???

Answer 2

I feel that the reason is because of the defence budget..the B2 bomber is an expensive piece of flying technology..A multi billion dollar flying machine...Lets begin with the concept of the bomber..someone has to come up with the idea and then draw up blue prints..once that is done the company who comes up with the concept must sell the Defence Department on the concept..that entails a model prototype with a report of all the technology being used and why this particular bomber will be a cut above all the existing bombers..once the Defence Department is sold on the idea they will have present the concept to the budget specialist..entailing a detailed report of how much two prototype bombers will cost to make..once the ok is given..then comes a biding war between companies...Lockheed and McDonald D. are not the only companies awarded defence contracts these days..sometimes other companies are chosen not only because they under bid the main companies..but because the Defence Department wants certain projects kept silent and under wraps until the actual project rolls off the production floor..once the contract is given to a company..they have to come up with two working prototypes...while in production..the US Military is training pilots and crews who will test fly the prototype bombers many times over to make sure all works. Now before the bomber are delivered..many test are run on all the technology and instruments..not to mention the fabrication of the body of the bomber and test run on it.. Once the bomber is delivered then comes the true testing..many flights are taken and all must pass rigorous testing in all kinds of weather and situations that the bomber might encounter..once all this is done and the bomber is dreamed a go..then it goes right back to the Defence Department who must once again submit a new budget for production and how many bombers will be made..once that is passed by the budget people..then production begins. The company doing production has to pay its employees and the other companies who provide materials to make the bomber from computers..to the smallest bolt holding together the body of the bomber right down to the clean up people who clean the building..Once the bombers are rolled out of production then comes the constant maintenance..jet fuel..and much more that comes with maintaining the bomber..So as you can see from concept to actual bomber it is quite expensive..on the multi-billion dollar side of things...The only reason I know these things is because I have worked for both the main companies..and have heard much talk on what it takes to get new projects up and going..Donna

Answer 3

This is called a 'false economy.'

Most of the cost of a B2 bomber is the money that had already been spent developing it. Another reason the airplanes cost so much is because they were made at an uneconomic rate. People quote those billion dollar numbers because they are adding the R&D costs to the price of the finished airplane. This is misleading because that money has already been spent and you cannot get any of it back by building fewer airplanes.

If the cost of the bomber were only the 'opportunity cost' (the additional cost of producing one more item) and they were made at the most efficient rate they would have cost ~250 million each.

Answer 4

With all of it's capabilities, and stealth, the B-2 has to be the world's best bomber. Nothing else comes close. I'd have to say the B-52 comes in second. It served us well in World War II and it still serving us well today. It can fly from Kansas to anyplace in the world (with in-air refueling), drop a payload of bombs or "smart" ordinance, then head on home, flying too high for any ground to air ordinance to reach it. Gotta love it.

Answer 5

Because after the fall of communism in Russia,at the time which the B-2 bomber was originally being built for there was no need for that many if I remember the original count of bombers to be built was 121,plus the fact that each bomber cost over two billion dollars to be built.
So once the Soviet Block fell that was the reason for such a decline in orders for the B-2 bomber.

Answer 6

Because there's not much need for them in today's world. Aside from cost, when the Soviet Union was around, there was a real enemy there that the US could say "ZOMG, we needs these planes!" But nowadays there's not super, major threat like the Soviet Union to justify these expensive weapon systems.

But terrorists work differently, and to use a B2 on them is like using a meat cleaver to perform surgery; you're going to get a lot of unintended, collateral damage (that's why they've been developing all these "smart weapons" that can hit individual buildings instead of leveling an entire city like during WW2).

Answer 7

Congress only approved money for 21 B2 bombers, not as many as the Air Force asked for.

Answer 8

the b2 stealth bomber cost around 1 billion dollars for manufacturing, don't forget it cost billions to put it in action for one mission. last we use was during the bombing on saddam hussein bunkers. The B-2 was thus deployed for the first time during Operation Iraqi Freedom in March / April 2003.

Answer 9

The B2 went into development while the Cold War was still going on. After the Soviet Union went belly up there was no longer a reason to continue cranking out more B2's.

Answer 10

The size of the Air Force and their current mission dictates how many bombers will be in the inventory. Also, the price tag is not cheap.