The contract for the ADS-B ground station network requires continual independent validation of the accuracy and reliability of ADS-B and aircraft avionics signals.
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This time, the issue is whether to exercise the option it created in 1994 by building a second increment of 20 B-2 aircraft.
While no effort was made to define or formally approve consensus positions or recommendations, the summary of the proceedings offered powerful arguments for fielding a large and flexible manned bomber force for the indefinite future, with a fleet of more than 20 B-2 aircraft as its backbone.
Aircraft equipped with ADS-B are able to automatically send highly precise data, such as aircraft positioning and speed, to air traffic controllers every second.
At present the nation's long-range bomber force consists primarily of two aircraft: the B-52 and the B-1.
An important distinction was made in this regard between the task of detecting an aircraft like the B-2 and the job of tracking and vectoring missiles or interceptors to destroy it.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Roundtable Discussion On The B-2 Bomber
The Army ultimately ordered almost thirteen thousand of the aircraft, which it dubbed the B-17.
The discussion then turned to the topic of the impact on bomber industrial capabilities if the B-2 production line is shut down after 20 aircraft are manufactured.
The personnel that work with the B-2 claim that it is a relatively easy aircraft to maintain and that in flight it is performing well ahead of its expectations.
Today, pilots in the commercial, business aviation and general aviation arena have to physically be in their aircraft from Point A all the way to Point B.
The giant half-dome shelters are an essential part of the bomber fleet as the B-2 requires a controlled environment for repairs on the aircraft's delicate skin that allows it to fly undetected by radar.
Few would seriously argue for using World War II vintage aircraft to fight Desert Storm, yet opponents of continuing B-2 production routinely contend that the B-52s will remain viable for many years to come.
Washington should also encourage the already fast-growing use of smaller jet aircraft, which can avoid hubs, taking passengers directly from Point A to Point B faster and at more affordable fares.
They must make it clear at once that the United States simply cannot afford to forego fielding the B-2 and that they will accept nothing less than a large, robust deployment of these aircraft.
Even after all twenty B-2's are delivered, the inventory of long-range bombers will total barely 200 aircraft.
Special attention was given to charges found in recent, sharply critical reports by "60 Minutes" and the General Accounting Office. (1) Each contention concerning such issues as the uncertainties involved in "low observable" technologies, the B-2 test program, the pace of production, the susceptibility to countermeasures and the maintainability of stealthy aircraft was addressed in turn by the participants.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Roundtable Discussion On The B-2 Bomber
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