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From: swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: B2 vs. F117A
Message-ID: <1991Feb22.233131.4956@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 22 Feb 91 23:31:31 GMT
References: <1991Feb15.073214.12423@cbnews.att.com> <1991Feb21.024637.8746@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, MD
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From: swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams)

Ah, I just got Jane's All The World's Aircrafts 1990-91.  Quickly, I
looked up the Northrop's B-2 and Lockheed's F-117A ...

The armament of B-2: Boeing Advanced Applications Rotary Launcher in
each of two side-by-side weapons bays in the lower centrebody.  Total
capacity of 16 SRAM II or AGM-129 ACMs.  Alternative weapons include
B61 tactical/strategic and B83 strategic free-fall nuclear bombs, MK
36 1,000 lb sea mines, Mk 82 500 lb bombs (maximum 80) and M117 750
lb fire bombs.

The armament of F-117A: "Full range of USAF tactical fighter ordnance"
including one 907 kg (2,000 lb) BLU-109 low-level laser-guided bomb;
or AGM-65 Maverick ASM.  Internal carriage only.

Some interesting info on Lockheed's F117A Steath Fighter:
The designations F-19, AR-19, and AR-2 were erroneously applied.  Although
US fighter designation re-started at F-1 in 1962, it is believed that
Soviet-built aircraft acquired from friendly nations and brought to
the US for secret evaluation have occupied the numbers F-112 to F116.
According to test pilot Park, the F-117A's design was dictated more
by steath requirements than aerodynamics.  The XST (Experimental Steath
Technology, known for the 5-7 proof of concept/demonstrator aircrafts)
demonstrated a tendency to sink rapidly onto the runway when in ground
effect, and the F-117A's USAF nickname of "Wobblin' Goblin" was derived
from a controllability problem which is understood to have been improved
since it entered service.  Three F-117As have crashed.  The aircraft
is said to be capable of supersonic speeds, but to be restricted to
subsonic operations reportedly following a tail surface detachment during
high speed flight.  The US Air Force defines maximum speed as "high
subsonic."

Steve Williams               |  "An expert is a person who has made all the
Department of the Navy       |  mistakes which can be made in a very narrow
David Taylor Research Center |  field."     -- Niels Bohr, Danish Scientist


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