NG to Deliver Four B-2s with New Bomb Racks
By Jefferson Morris
09/15/2004 11:14:56 AM
Northrop Grumman is on schedule to deliver by year's end the first four B-2 bombers to be equipped with new bomb racks that will enable the aircraft to drop five times as many precision weapons on a single flight, according to company officials.
"We promised that we'd have four airplanes all equipped, certified and ready by the end of this year, and in fact we'll make that commitment," Harry Heimple, manager of government requirements for Northrop Grumman's Air Combat Systems division, said during a briefing in Washington Sept. 14.
The B-2 currently can deliver up to 16 2,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). The new rack will enable the bomber to carry up to 80 500-pound JDAMs. The Air Force's operational test and evaluation (OT&E) of the new rack assembly should be completed within the next two months, according to Heimple. The entire fleet of 21 B-2s is scheduled to have the new bomb rack by 2006, he said.
The next weapons upgrade for the B-2 will be the integration of the 5,000-pound Enhanced GBU-28 penetrator, Heimple said, which should begin in March 2005.