Total Stealth May Be Impossible for Radar-Evading B-2 Bomber
Ten months after the B-2 Stealth bomber failed a test of its radar-evading ability, the Air Force has yet to identify a solution and now suggests that the tailless, multibillion-dollar flying wing may never meet all of its contract requirements.
Air Force Secretary Donald B. Rice expressed hope in an interview Wednesday that B-2 flight tests under way at Edwards Air Force Base in California would yield an answer to the Stealth problem in the next several weeks. But he acknowledged that if fixing the plane proves too costly, “that might mean making a choice that is not quite up to the specifications.”
Rice said he has not changed his view that the B-2 will live up to its billing as the “world’s most survivable airplane,” and so far the performance question has not proved fatal in Congress. The House Armed Services Committee agreed last week to the Administration’s request to complete the B-2 program at 20 planes--four more than the 16 authorized--providing that the flaw can be fixed.
Air Force officials disclosed last August that the bomber a month earlier had failed one test of its ability to hide from enemy radar. The officials said then that the test involved one narrow band on a broad spectrum of radar frequencies, but that in most circumstances the plane met or exceeded expectations.
At the time, Rice disputed an assertion by Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams that the flaw was potentially a “major problem,” comparing news coverage of the subject to stories on “Elvis sightings.”
Air Force officials said this month that the service has settled on three possible avenues to solving the problem and that they hope to pick one or a combination by the end of the year. Flight tests on one such avenue are under way, and Rice said in the interview that he hopes the testing “will demonstrate (that) we have a way to meet the objective.”
Air Force and other sources said the fixes under review do not involve major changes in the design or geometry of the plane.
