Is the American B2 Stealth Bomber powered by a nuclear reactor? Is it capable of hovering?

Question

Is the American B2 Stealth Bomber powered by a nuclear reactor? Is it capable of hovering?

Answer 1

Yup! and lots of other cool things! Dont mess with us. Imagine want we have you dont know about?

Answer 2

depends on what you are smoking

Answer 3

The B-2 "Spirit" is a jet aircraft in the usual sense and is not powered by a nuclear reactor.  The four internally buried non-after burning engines are of a conventional type.  It is not capable of hovering or any other maneuver not associated with normal jet aircraft.  Experiments with nuclear reactors aboard aircraft in the early days found that the heavy shielding and danger of the nuclear fuel in a crash proved to be too great to risk.  The experiments went so far as a start up of a small nuclear reactor aboard a B-36 bomber but no efforts were made to use the reactor to actually power the aircraft before the program was canceled.  Weight from the need for shielding for the crew is the main reason nuclear power is unsuited for aircraft propulsion.

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In May 1946, the Air Force began the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project which was followed in May 1951 by the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program. The ANP program required that Convair modify two B-36s under the MX-1589 project. One of the modified B-36s studied shielding requirements for an airborne reactor to determine whether a nuclear aircraft was feasible. The Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA) was a B-36H-20-CF (Serial Number 51-5712) that had been damaged in a tornado at Carswell AFB on 1 September 1952. This plane, designated the NB-36H, was modified to carry a 1 MW, air-cooled nuclear reactor in the aft bomb bay, with a four ton lead shield between the reactor and the cockpit. The cockpit was encased in lead and rubber, with a 6-inch (15 cm)–thick acrylic glass windshield. The reactor was operational but did not power the plane; its sole purpose was to investigate the effect of radiation on aircraft systems. Between 1955 and 1957, the NB-36H completed 47 test flights and 215 hours of flight time, during 89 of which the reactor was critical. The NB-36H was scrapped at Fort Worth in 1958 when the nuclear aircraft program was abandoned.

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Answer 4

No. No.  It isn't invisible, either.  It doesn't have a "cloaking device".  This is NOT Star Trek.

Answer 5

No.  It burns kerosene just like any other jet airplane.

No.  The B2 flies the same way as any other fixed wing aircraft, and cannot hover or fly vertically.

Answer 6

Yeah.  Email me with prices, terms and an address for a drop shipment.

Answer 7

No. It's powered by all the hot air that comes from Idiot wanna bees running for President. And yes it can hover all day while it's resting on it's landing gear.

Answer 8

no. seriously are you retarded? or are you just a moron who doesnt think? the only aircraft capable of hovering are helicopters.

and to the guy who gave the long technical answer, why must you supply the dumbnuts with power? its a waste of time

Answer 9

no and no again

Answer 10

Yes, and yes.

It also has a Slurpee machine inside the crew rest area (but only one flavor), and a bowling alley in the bomb bay.

Answer 11

No, it has regular jet engines and needs to move to fly, like any fixed wing airplane.

Answer 12

figueroaj85, I direct your attention to the

The V-22 Osprey and  Harrier Jump Jet , quite capable of

hovering! Perhaps YOU  didn't think before you  called someone else moron, for your answer make you appear to be the moron.

Answer 13

Nope but that would cool if it did

Answer 14

Rofl

Lol

omg

ZOMG!

haha

WTH?

Answer 15

Yes, Frank does indeed trip.