PALMDALE, Calif., March 29 (UPI) -- Upgrades have been completed that will increase the number of guided bombs that can be carried by the U.S. stealth bomber.
The 54th and final "smart" bomb rack for the B-2 was delivered to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base earlier this month, giving each of the aircraft the capability of dropping up to 80, 500-pound smart bombs, five times the plane's original payload.
"We are increasing the B-2's capability and flexibility in areas such as weapons loads, precision targeting and retargeting, communications for better situational awareness and mission updates, and airframe maintainability," said Gene Fraser, B-2 program manager at Northrop Grumman.
The specific smart bomb is the GBU-38, a 500-pounder designed by Boeing that is also carried aboard the F-16 and is a relatively surgical weapon that has been used in Iraq against specific targets with minimal collateral damage.
The B-2 was originally earmarked for the MK-84 2,000 pound bomb and nuclear weapons.
The SBRA (Smart Bomb Rack Assembly) was designed under a $131 million Air Force contract awarded in 2001 to carry bombs that are guided by Global Positioning System (GPS) that can each be aimed at a different target.
A subsequent 2003 contract resulted in the conversion of another 45 existing bomb racks to the new configuration.
The project also included major software and hardware modifications to the B-2, which Northrop calls America's only long-range, large-payload bomber that can penetrate protected airspace.
