The Next Gen Long Range Strike Bomber

The Next Gen Long Range Strike Bomber

   The US aerospace giant Northrup Grumman secured the contract to Supply next generation long range Strike bombers to US Air Force. Companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin also participated in the contract, however due to the expertise in the Bomber development, Northrup Grumman won the tender. The actual development and project cost valued some $80 to $100 billions. The US government will provide some $60 billions just for development and another $20 billion for 100 bombers. As per contract Northrup will deliver the first LRS-B in 2020.

   Northrup Grumman is well known in stealth bomber development, the good example is B 2 Spirit. However the B 2 will not used for multi role operations. The B 2 only used for dropping guided bombs in contested air spaces and designed to perform Nuclear strike missions inside protected air space. The USAF currently operates only fifteen B 2 Bombers. The less number means due to the operational costs and mission needs. The B 2 is known for breaching any protected and communication denied air spaces to perform missions and safely return back to the base.

   The B 1 is the other hand designed by Rockwell to perform missions in safe airspace. The B1 specially designed to support US missions across the globe fighting against terrorism and conduct precision bombing in safe air space. USAF mission in Afghan, Iraq and current mission against ISIS is the good example of B1's capability striking targets pin point, The Bone or B-One carry's powerful camera's and EO Sensors to perform pin point strike against enemy ground targets. The Bone lacks in stealth, however it is designed with modern EW systems to spoof guided missiles.

    The Next Gen bomber LRS B could do all the above missions, The USAF facing guided missile threats allover the world. Small Mobile QR SAM's with engagement range up to 40,000 feet altitude is a threat to USAF bombers. B 1 has many external pods, like Targeting pods, navigational pods and EW Jammer Pods. A small visible external pod is enough to attract enemy attention even long away using Radar detection. So the new bomber will not carry anything on outside just like the B 2 Spirit to maintain the stealth signature.

   The Antenna's, EO systems, Targeting pods and EW systems will be fixed inside the Bomber. The high powerful high resolution camera's used  to identify ground threats like mobile air defense batteries and jamming systems also installed internally.  The Russians invested heavily in long range air defense systems and ground based communication denied systems to counter US fighters and Bombers.

Grumman B 2 Spirit

   The Russian S 400 air defense battery is very long range whose engagement range is more than 400 kilometers with active seeker and supported by long range radar's for higher kill probability. The S 400 also highly mobile system can be moved in a matter of time. Most of the US intelligence gathered by satellites only. The satellite information's are not highly accurate due to earth's curvature rotation and due to the mobile capability the systems can be can be easily moved. It's also very hard to detect the systems due to camouflage covers over the targets.

   The B 2 bombers can actually use the GPS guided bombs to hit stationary targets like Radar stations, Air bases and Hangers. The B 2 gets real time target information and location info from the spy satellite's . The Kosovo war is a good example, The B 2 dropped guided bombs in predesignated targets. which destroyed Radar stations, command centers and Air bases. However the situations are changed now, When coming to Russia they were much intelligent than the others. Most of the Russian anti air missiles and Radar systems are highly mobile which can pose serious threats to USAF, which can't be targeted using the GPS guided JDAM kits.

   The B 1 on the other side is a perfect choice to counter mobile targets, Fitted with high powerful long range passive radar along with Sniper laser targeting pods, The real time onboard system allows the B 1 can conduct strike missions in high precision even fast moving targets. The Bone can carry laser guided bombs to strike moving targets illuminated by laser beams. This is very useful when engaging fast moving targets like Tanks and high value targets. The Only problem in the B 1is  it's not a stealth platform, So it can't be used to conduct missions in contested airspace's like Russia, China and Iran the rival American enemies.

    The Communication jamming is the other technique used by the military's to counter air bound threats. Russians relay's on both ground based fixed jammer stations and mobile jammers. The Russians constructed a bigger ground based jamming station in occupied Ukrainian  territories. The system can jam any kind of communication channels within the 150 kilometer of radius, like data link,satellite communications and even IFF responders signals too. Entering such communication denied air space is like going to enemy's cave blindly. The Russians almost controlled entire Ukrainian airspace from further NATO led intervention to help Ukrainian forces to recapture the lost grounds.

   The ground based communication jamming system known as R 330 Zhytel which is already operational in Donestk, Ukraine. Where the territory belongs to Ukrainian captured by Russian sponsored Militants. The system will suppress mobile satellite phone communication systems like Inmarsat and Iridum which phones are widely used by Americans and private military contractors for Air support and communication intelligence. The system also jam mobile communication system ranging in GSM and CDMA. It also jams NAVSTAR satellite based navigation system aided by GPS. The US tomahawk follows NAVSTAR based satellite guidance. 

R 330 Zhytel

   The Mobile based communication jammer is known by Krakusha, It's highly mobile platform used to jam all the as said above in shorter range.  Russia deployed the Krakusha EW systems in Syria to safe their mission from NATO and Israeli air crafts. Both of the systems are hardly get detected by SAR imaginary and Satellite pictures. Also striking those systems in first wave also a bigger challenge to USAF in future warfare.

    To eradicate all the above said threats the LRS B must comes with superior systems to bypass all the future threats too. It's clear that NG Bomber must comes with stealth characteristics with highly reduced radar cross section than the previous B 2 Spirit and F 22 Raptor. The onboard antenna's will be designed to support missions even in communication denied air spaces to achieve aerial superiority to further invasion.