COMING SOON VIA
The B-2A Spirit stealth bomber presented a complex and exciting challenge for Top Mach Studios. It took us over a year and a half of laborious and painstaking work to render the B-2 well enough for us to feel ready to share it with the community. One of the most interesting and unique aircraft ever developed, and in many ways well ahead of its time when it first rolled out of the hangar for public presentation on November 22nd, 1988 , the technologies and capabilities of the B-2 Spirit are still every bit as relevant today as when the aircraft was conceived back in the 1970s. While impossible within the scope of any desktop flight simulator to replicate the complexity and depth of operational and tactical systems found on the B-2A, we’ve endeavored to provide a highly immersive and satisfying experience that we hope represents what it might feel like to fly the Spirit. It has only been in the last few years that the USAF allowed any publicly available photographic and video footage from inside the cockpit of B-2 to become available. Prior to that it would have been exceedingly difficult to produce a reasonably accurate model of the aircraft that we’d have felt comfortable putting our logo on. We also received invaluable information, feedback, and encouragement from real world B-2 pilots and maintainers, within the limits of operational security. Also, somewhat fortuitously, during development of this model, new public video footage became available that enabled us to more accurately model the cockpit rear interior area and other features of the aircraft; prior to that there was only one publicly available in-flight cockpit footage video from the B-2 cockpit. Between the feedback from real world B-2 specialists and the new footage, development was set back at least two and a half months just so we could try to capture more of the visual essence and accuracy of modeled functionality within the B-2 cockpit. We hope the delay was worth the wait!
The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying wing with a crew of two, the plane was designed by Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) as the prime contractor, with Boeing, Hughes, and Vought as principal subcontractors, and was produced from 1987 to 2000. The bomber can drop conventional and thermonuclear weapons, such as up to eighty 500-pound class (230 kg) Mk 82 JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400-pound (1,100 kg) B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only acknowledged in-service aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration.
Development began under the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) project during the Carter administration, which cancelled the Mach 2-capable B-1A bomber in part because the ATB showed such promise. But development difficulties delayed progress and drove up costs. Ultimately, the program produced 21 B-2s at an average cost of $2.13 billion (~$4.04 billion in 2023), including development, engineering, testing, production, and procurement.[5] Building each aircraft cost an average of US$737 million, while total procurement costs (including production, spare parts, equipment, retrofitting, and software support) averaged $929 million (~$1.11 billion in 2023) per plane. The project's considerable capital and operating costs made it controversial in the U.S. Congress even before the winding down of the Cold War dramatically reduced the desire for a stealth aircraft designed to strike deep in Soviet territory. Consequently, in the late 1980s and 1990s lawmakers shrank the planned purchase of 132 bombers to 21.
The B-2 can perform attack missions at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,000 m); it has an unrefueled range of more than 6,000 nautical miles (6,900 mi; 11,000 km) and can fly more than 10,000 nautical miles (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) with one midair refueling. It entered service in 1997 as the second aircraft designed with advanced stealth technology, after the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk attack aircraft. Primarily designed as a nuclear bomber, the B-2 was first used in combat to drop conventional, non-nuclear ordnance in the Kosovo War in 1999. It was later used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.
The United States Air Force has nineteen B-2s in service as of 2024; one was destroyed in a 2008 crash and another was lost to a crash in 2022. The Air Force plans to operate them until 2032, when the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is to replace them.
Model Features and Capabilities
• Custom Programmed Simulated Fly-By-Wire control system for virtually carefree flight control
• Auto-trim / pitch control
• G-Limiter
• Roll rate limiter
• Bank Limiter
• Pitch Angle Limiter
• Yaw limiter and Yaw Damping
• Highly resistant to departure from controlled flight throughout the flight envelope.
• Precision, stable high altitude flight control to 50,000 feet and above.
• Realistic control response and “feel” throughout the flight envelope
• “Poor man’s” terrain following system utilizing radar altimeter-controlled altitude hold
• Penetration Mode with Differential Thrust Control
Highly detailed fully custom 3D cockpit modeling and avionics suite with:
• Highly detailed modeling and texturing of cockpit, rear cabin, crew entry area, all control panels, and interior detailing developed with careful attention to real world reference photographs.
• Detailed ACES II ejection seat models
• Fully Functional MFDs (using fully customized instrumentation suite) including critical aircraft information displays, FLIR simulation, crew alerting system alerts, customized tactical top down radar type display, fuel management, electrical system status, etc…
• Robust crew alerting system messages system alerting on a variety of information, caution, and warning messages and associated sound effects including b****ing Betty/Brian alerts with acknowledge / mute functions on glareshield master warning, caution, and fire alerts panel.
• FLIR (forward looking infra-red) simulation using synthetic vision display with instrument overlays for night and low visibility flying
• Highly functional and customized Flight Management Computer (MCDU) module with many features and functions for flight planning, instrument flight, navigation, and communication.
• Center Information Display unit with backup instrumentation, detailed custom-programmed moving map display, large format Crew Alerting System alerts
• Interactive Checklist System in Center Information Display that mirrors the detailed checklists found in this document.
• Canopy interior reflections and rain effects
• All buttons, knobs, and switches in the cockpit are animated and many are functional or emulate system functionality and drive crew alerting system messages.
• Full suite of essential autopilot and navigation controls.
• Detailed overhead panel with APU controls, engine management controls, lighting systems, and other details modeled as closely as the information we’ve gathered will allow.
• Full cockpit lighting system including night lighting and individual lighting controls modeled as closely to the real aircraft as possible.
• Numerous additional customized screens and gauges with realistic USAF style CAS messages and automated alerting system.
• Aerial refueling (refueling while airborne) using aerial refueling port switch when aircraft is flown within certain flight parameters.
• Animated pilot figurines with optional display positions including “self” view and co-pilot (mission commander) displayable in different poses.
• Rear Cabin details and “Easter Eggs” to explore.
• Custom “Electronic Flight Bag” tablet to manage sim configuration, weapons display, and moving map display configurations.
Detailed Custom 3D Exterior Model
• Highly detailed 3D exterior model.
• 21 detailed liveries representing all current and former B-2As in service.
• Detailed custom texturing of all main surfaces, weapon bays, wheel bays, and other surface and interior areas of the aircraft body.
• High detail landing gear, crew boarding, and weapon bay areas
• Animation of all key flight control surfaces with complex customized animation controls representing the B-2’s complex flight control system.
• Detailed and fully animated landing gear and extension / retraction sequence.
• Animated and detailed crew entry tunnel and boarding ladder area
• Weapon bays modeled with cockpit-controlled door animations
• Optional stores configuration available to simulate loading and placement of 8 x GBU-31 2000 lb bombs and 8 x AGM-158 JASSM missiles (Available for PC customers with optional free weapons display update download).
• Custom dynamic visual effects including wing vapor effects, APU start and run effects, engine heat and smoke plumes, and others.
• Cold and dark visual modeling features (pilots displayed or hidden, remove before flight tags, etc…) that are user controlled from the EFB.
• Detailed and realistically modeled ground equipment for optional display from the EFB including: scaffolds, air start carts, ground power unit, munitions cart, munitions loader, fire extinguisher, and more.
• Animated air to air refueling slipway (cockpit switch controlled) with multiple custom accurately placed lighting objects and effects
• Pilot figures in pilot and co-pilot positions (can be optionally displayed when aircraft cold / dark).
• Full exterior Lighting Systems include custom landing and taxi lighting, navigation lights, and beacons; all modeled after the actual aircraft, with correct lighting positions and transparencies.
• Multiple custom cameras in cockpit and exterior views
Sound Pack from Echo19 Audio
• Highly realistic sound suite for exterior sounds based on B-2 and F118/F110 engine sounds, tuned with exacting attention to real-world B-2 exterior sound-scape.
• 3D Fly-By sound experience for fly-overs and exterior fly-bys. Experience the thundering sound experience of four huge military turbofan engines.
• Highly immersive interior sounds replicating sounds for all major systems and sub-systems and customer interactions within the cockpit environment
• Aural voice alerts and tones for a wide variety of Crew Alerting System alerts
• Wind and drag induced ambient and reactive sound effects for landing gear, weapon bay doors, speed brakes, high speed wind blast, and others.
Engine and Performance Modeling based on General Electric, Northrop Grumman, USAF, and other analyst estimated specifications
• Accurate weight and fuel quantities.
• Advanced fuel system employed including APU fuel burn, fuel dump, and aerial refueling emulation.
• Engine model tuned to realistic specifications for realistic thrust/weight ratio and performance across the flight envelope.
• Modeled fuel consumption in line with real world specifications at low and high altitudes. Range profile matches real world stated range estimates.
• Accurate fuel consumption and maximum range at all altitudes (not based on the default game turbine model, but customized to improve accuracy of turbine fuel consumption and thrust).
• Drag and lift model tuned to stated and estimated specifications for the B-2A.
• Mach 0.96+ maximum speed at altitude
• 500 KIAS low altitude terrain following flight possible (within game limits).
• Service ceiling modeled to 50,000+ feet.
