Buckle Up: Top 14Expensive Military Rides on the Planet

8. The USA's B-2 Spirit

Manufacturers: Hughes Aircraft Company, Northrop Corporation, and Northrop Grumman United States Air Force: Main Users Program Expense: $44.75,75 billion (up to 2004) Cost per unit: $737 million The B-2 Spirit, often known as the Stealth Bomber, is a large strategic bomber manufactured by Northrop Grumman. With its stealth technology, the B-2 Spirit can penetrate even the strongest anti-aircraft defenses. The B-2 Spirit needs two crew members and is designed as a flying wing aircraft.

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B-2 Spirit (USA), Shutterstock, and Angel DiBilio Congress was agitated by the bomber's operating expenses and capital requirements. As the Cold War came to an end in the late 1980s, there was less need for aircraft such as the B-2 Spirit. Early in the 1990s, the B-2 Spirit's procurement order was reduced from 132 bombers to just 21. Attack missions can be conducted by the B-2 Spirit up to 50,000 feet in the air. When using internal fuel, it can travel more than 6,900 kilometers. Over 12,000 miles can be covered by the B-2 Spirit on a single midair refueling. In the late 1990s, this bomber was involved in its maiden combat mission, dropping conventional, non-nuclear weapons on ground targets.