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Strategic bombers often have some defensive armament, but they are not designed to engage in combat with other aircraft. They are relatively large, slow, and unmanoeuvrable. If enemy air opposition is expected, bombers must be escorted. Attack aircraft are smaller, faster, and more agile, but less-so than a fighterA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft. Compare with bomber. Fighters are comparatively small, fast, and highly maneuverable, and have been fitted with increasingly sophisticated tracking and weapons syst when armed for a ground attack mission, and carry insufficient air-to-air weaponry for protracted combat unless loaded specifically for an air-to-air mission. Typically, combat aircraft intended for ground attack duties are camouflaged in the colours of vegetation whilst interceptors and aircraft intended for "dogfighting" other airplanesThis article refers to the tool of travel. There is a separate article about the movie Airplane An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. Categories and clasification Aircraft fall into two broad categories: Heavier than air Heavier than a at altitude are finished in light blues or greys, so that their presence and trajectory are harder to see against the sky.
The first true stealth aircraft was the F-117 NighthawkThe United States Air Force's F-117A Nighthawk is the world's first operational aircraft designed to exploit low-observable stealth technology. It is a direct descendant of the Have Blue stealth prototype program. Nicknames Before it was given an official, primarily a ground attack aircraft. It is built by Lockheed MartinLockheed Martin is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland and employs 130,000 people worldwide. Robert J. Stevens is the CEO. It is a major defense con, the company with the largest U.S. Defense Department contract.
The U.S. Air Force's most expensive bomber is the B-2 Spirit. It is a stealth bomber built by Northrop Grumman. Its price tag was near $2 billion per aircraft. Like its non-stealth counterparts B-1 and B-52, the B-2 Spirit has a range limited only by crew endurance, due to in-flight refueling.
No other western nations continue to fly a strategic bomber, with the phase-out of the British V-Bomber force in the 1982. Uninterceptible ICBMs meant delivering nuclear weapons became a lower priority (and in any case, jet fighters can carry modern devices), and for conventional bombing, modern fighters can now carry a bomb load comparable to most World War II bombers (except the B-29 Superfortress ) and using guided weaponry can deliver it far more accurately. In any case, developing and maintaining a bomber fleet is a massively expensive task and one which most nations do not have the resources, requirements or desire to pursue at present.