This page is still under construction. In the end there will be information on 31 planes and 2 helicopters.
Contractor: Northrop Grumman
Length: 69 feet
Height: 17 feet
Wingspan: 172 feet
Speed: High Subsonic
Ceiling: Up to 50,000 feet
Gross Weight: More than 350,000 pounds
Payload: More than 40,000 pounds
Unrefueled range: More than 6,000 nautical miles
Range with one refueling: 10,000 nautical miles
Armament: Can deliver a variety of nuclear and conventional weapons, including gravity bombs and maritime weapons.
Crew: Two - a pilot and a mission commander
Number of aircraft funded: 20 operational; one flight test
Total program cost: $28.96 billion in Base Year 1981 dollars.
The B-2 Spirit Bomber has the ability to attack targets anywhere on the globe from U.S. bases, and stealth characteristics designed to fool enemy defenses. The giant bomber has a wingspan more than half the length of a football field. The B-2 combines advanced aerospace technology, development and manufacturing systems.
With a unique flying-wing configuration, the B-2 can deliver both nuclear and conventional weapons. It has the ability to operate with far less support aircraft than other bombers need, meaning fewer pilots and aircraft are at risk.
The plane can carry more than twenty tons of munitions and can fly, unrefueled, more than 6,000 nautical miles. It can fly 10,000 nautical miles with one refueling.
The B-2's low observable characteristics enable it to defeat the most sophisticated air defense systems, attack a full spectrum of enemy targets, and return to base.
Northrop Grumman is the primary contractor with Boeing, Vought, General Electric and Hughes the major subcontractors. There are more than 3,800 other active subcontractors in 46 states.
The first B-2 rolled out of the final assembly plant in Palmdale, California in November 1988 and flew for the first time on July 17, 1989. It entered the operational fleet at Whiteman Air Force Base, MO, on December 17, 1993. All twenty or the aircraft will be assigned to Whiteman, about 90 miles east of Kansas City.
Contractor: Lockheed Martin
Max. gross weight: 52,000 pounds
Length: 65ft., 11 in.
Wingspan: 43ft., 4 in.
Speed: High Subsonic
Range: Unlimited with air refueling
Height: 12 ft., 5 in.
Crew: One
Armament: Internal weapons
USAF production: 59 aircraft
When Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein began playing games with U.N. weapons inspectors in the closing months of 1997, one of the first actions taken was to move F-117A Stealth Fighters to the region.
The message was not lost on Hussein, or the rest of the world. F-177A aircraft kicked off the Gulf War when they swept over Baghdad in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 17, 1991., knocking out the country's vital command and control facilities.
The Stealth Fighters, possibly more than any aircraft, destroyed the myth of Saddam's war machine by attacking the heart of the heavily fortified capital.
The sleek, black, bat-winged aircraft had "led the way in putting out the eyes and crushing the nerve centers of Iraq," said Donald Rice, who was Air Force secretary at the time.
The F-117A was developed at Lockheed's famed Skunk Works in Burbank, Calif., the same facility that developed some of the nation's most famous top-secret projects such as the SR-71 Blackbird and the U-2 spy plane.
Developed by the late Ben Rich during the 1970s, the first F-177A flew on June 18, 1991 and became operational October 26, 1983. It remained top secret at a remote base in Nevada until it was unveiled to the public at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada on April 22, 1990.
Contractor: The Boeing Company
Engines: Four General F101-G3-102 turbofans
Span: 136 ft., 8 1/2 in.
Length: 150 ft., 2 1/2 in.
Wing Area: 1,950 sq. ft.
Weight: Empty, over 160,000 lbs.; max. loaded, 477,000
Speed: Maximum about 1,000 MPH
Range: Over 7,000 miles
When the Air Force went looking for a replacement for the cancelled B-70 Bomber and the aging B-52, the answer was the B-1 bomber.
But the succession wasn't quite that simple.
Study on the giant aircraft, which is half the length of a football field, began in 1962. The first flight was December 23, 1974.
Then the Carter administration decided to scrap the aircraft in 1977 after four prototypes were built.
The plane was revived by the Reagan administration in September of 1981, and entered the Strategic Air Command inventory five years later. SAC was changed to the Air Combat Command in June 1992 with the winding down of the Cold War.
The plane was originally designed to reach a speed of Mach 2, and the second prototype achieved Mach 2.22 in October of 1978.
Speed eventually became less important in the planning of the aircraft, with maximum speed now rated at about 1,000 miles per hour.
By late 1978, emphasis on the aircraft had shifted to low level penetration at subsonic speeds, with protection provided by defense electronics and stealth characteristics. Despite its size, the B-1 has less than 1/100th the radar cross-section of the B-52.
Contractor: Lockheed Martin
Speed: More than 2,000 MPH (Mach 3.2)
Altitude: Above 85,000 ft.
Number of Engines: Two J-58 Turbojets with Afterburners
Range: More than 2,000 miles
Crew: Two: Pilot and Test Engineer
Wingspan: 55.6 ft.
Length: 107.4 ft.
Height: (Parked): 18.5 ft.
Weight: 143,000 lbs.
No one knows the maximum speed of the SR-71 Blackbird because it has never really been extended to its full operating capacity.
The Blackbird flies at speed in excess of 2,000 MPH and altitudes exceeding 85,000 feet (16 miles!), making it the world's fastest and highest flying aircraft.
The plane can trace its roots to the 1950s when the government was looking for a plane that could fly faster and higher than the U-2, which was becoming vulnerable to Soviet missiles.
Developed by Lockheed's Skunk Works in Burbank, Calif., the A-12, the first member of the Blackbird family, flew in April 1962.
93 percent of the plane's airframe is made of heat-resistant titanium, with temperatures near the engine's exhaust reaching 950 degrees.
Contractor: Lockheed Martin
Wingspan: 103 ft.
Height: 16 1/2 ft.
Max. Altitude: Above 70,000 feet
Engine: 1 Pratt & Whitney
Fuselage Length: 63 ft.
Range: Over 3,000 mi.
Crew: One
The U-2, America's most famous spy plane, just can't stay out of the spotlight. It was back there again when Saddam Hussein threatened to shoot down the U-2 as it photographed sites believed to be developing and storing biological weapons.
The Lockheed aircraft has provided high-flying eyes for America since the mid-1950's.
It gained international attention on May 1, 1960 when a U-2 piloted by Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, ending plans for a meeting between President Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
It also played a critical role two years later, providing first word that the Soviets were installing missiles in Cuba. The resulting Cuban millile crisis brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war.
The F-5 is an agile, highly maneuverable fighter dating back to 1964.
The T-38 Talon was the world's first supersonic aircraft to be built as a trainer, entering the military inventory in 1961.
Northrop's F-5/T-38 series is the most widely-deployed U.S. built supersonic aircraft in the world. The F-5/T-38 was produced for 31 countries including the United States.
The T-38s are also used by NASA for its astronaut training.
Engines: Three 52,500 lb. Thrust General Electric turbofans
Dimensions: Span: 165 ft., 4in.; Length 181 ft., 7in.
Height: 58 ft., 1 in.
Weight: Empty 240,026 lbs.; Loaded 590,000 lbs.
Max. Speed About 600 MPH
First Flight (DC-10) August 29, 1970; (KC-10A) July 12, 1980
During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, the Air Force deployed 256 KC-135s and 46 KC-10s to the Persian Gulf. Air Force tankers refueled every aircraft of every service - fighter, bomber, airlift, AWACS, or Joint-STARS. Some allied forces also used Air Force tankers to do their mission. More than enough fuel was offloaded to fuel the gas tank of every private and commercial and publicly owned automobile in Texas and Oklahoma.
Contractor: Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle, Washington
Engines: Four Pratt & Whitney turbofans
Dimensions: Span: 130 ft., 10 in; Length: 134 ft., 6 in.
Height: 41 ft., 8 in.
Weight: Empty (KC-135B) 102,300 lbs.; Loaded (KC-135B) 275,000 lbs.
Max. Speed: About 580 MPH
First Flight: August 31, 1956
Desert Shield
Tanker Missions: 4,967
Hours Logged: 19,089
Aircraft Refueled: 14,588
Fuel Delivered (In Millions of Gallons): 68.2
Desert Storm
Tanker Missions: 15,434
Hours Logged: 59,943
Aircraft Refueled: 45,955
Fuel Delivered (In Millions of Gallons): 110.2
Since the aircraft first flew on Maay 27, 1958, it has been flown by active and reserve units of the U.S. Air Force, U.S Air National Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy and the air forces of 11 other nations.
In addition, the aircraft was used at one time by both the U.S. Air Force Thinderbirds and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
In Operation Desert Storm, more than 100 F-11 aircraft, including several different versions, flew nearly 5,000 missions. They attacked factories and other high-value military targets using Pave Tack, operating almost exclusively at night, and were credited with destroying more than 1,500 tanks and armored vehicles. F-111s also dropped the bombs that stopped the flow of oil into the Persian Gulf, after Iraq opened pipelines to wreak enviromental damage.
The A-7 also saw combat in Grenada, and was involved in combat missions against Libya in 1987 and Iraq in 1991.
The plane played a major role in the Vietnam War, operating from carrier decks in inclement weather that would ground most other aircraft. It was the subject of the movie "Flight of the Intruder."
Length: 61 ft., 11 in.
Height: 16 feet
Wingspan: 64 ft., 2 in.
Crew: 2
Engines:2 GE afterburning turbofans
Speed: Mach 1.88
Empty Weight: 41,780 lbs.
Maximum Weight: 74,349 lbs.
The F-14 Tomcat, which was designed to replace the Navy's aging F-4 Phantom, made its first flight in December of 1970 and became operational in 1972.
The Tomcat's Phoenix missiles have intercepted targets at distances of over 100 miles, and altitudes ranging from 50 feet to over 16 miles (80,000 feet) high.
The F-14 features the ultimate in air combat systems, with radar that allows the two-man crew to track 24 enemy targets and simultaneously attack six different threats at varied altitudes and distances.
The plane is capable of speeds of over Mach 2. The wings are moved without pilot input by a central computer, a feature that is invaluable in air combat situations because it optimizes aircraft performance and various flight conditions.
This page was last updated 10:27 P.M. Eastern Time. 1/4/00.
