Slits on the B2!!??

Having seen the posted close ups I will now come off the fence I was initally sitting on and say I think it is a windscreen clearing/de-iceing system.

The strange shape could be due to the effect the slits would have on the frontal RCS of the A/C.

If we had a view from inside the cockpit looking Fwd and down we might see them in a bit more detail.......or just have a look in the maintenance notes on the B2 and see what system they come under!!!!

I do not think they are landing or taxi lights as these are normally on the main and nose U/C gear Assy's (main for landing, nose for taxi).

The pitot/static system I think can be discounted as the slits are too big and in the wrong place...the pitiot probe should be on the leading edge of the wing/fuselarge directly in undisturbed airflow for the airspeed/machmeter and the static vents should be in an area where no moving air can penertrate and this will be used for the Altimeter/VSI etc.

The A/C might use a combined pressure head system but this is normall used for fast jets/fighters so I think a seperate system is the one used

So without a better picture or crew manual/maintenance procedure's we will just have to keep best guessing as to their use.

Sv.....Out!

Actually, the more I look at it, the more I think it's for the instruments.

Shattered OUT...

Shattered, what instruments are you thinking of?

I know I was thinking more along the lines of windscreen de-iceing/clearing etc but given the flying wing and steath requirements of the B2 would this have any effect on the placement of the various probes and vents required on an A/C's systems.

SV...Out!

mmmmm Could be a number of things but well spotted. I wish someone could cleary explain to me the cost of these B2 platforms because the figures do not add up. I conclude that they do in fact have advanced antigravity technology.

Originally posted by OldBoy
I conclude that they do in fact have advanced antigravity technology.

What a ridiculous conclusion. I'd really like to know how that adds up!

The cost of the B-2 has to include the costs that Northrop spend on R&D for the plane. The ATB program was massive and cost ALOT of money. I agree that the cost of a single B-2 is incredibly expensive but when a plane includes the cutting edge technology in computing and materials science and surely has to cover several still-classified prototypes during development I think it DOES add up.

Originally posted by Silentvulcan
Shattered, what instruments are you thinking of?

I know I was thinking more along the lines of windscreen de-iceing/clearing etc but given the flying wing and steath requirements of the B2 would this have any effect on the placement of the various probes and vents required on an A/C's systems.

SV...Out!

Well, being a student pilot myself, I am aware of many different instruments that a plane requires to operate in order to maintain different flight rules, such as Visual Flight Rules and Instrument Flight Rules. The glass cockpit in the B-2 makes up for a good 10 different instruments, atleast 6 of which are dependent on a Pitot-static system. So that right there could be what those things in front of the cockpit and underneath the glass is.

I might be looking at the wrong thing, can someone edit a photo of a B-2 to point out what the slits are?

Shattered OUT...

Mondogiwa is not hallucinating. The slits are very hard to see exept from certain angles and under the proper lighting conditions. They are located in front of the windshields and aft of the air-data sensor ports.

The slits are part of the windscreen rain-removal/anti-icing system. They discharge warm air onto the exterior surface of the windshields at 6 psig for rain removal and 18 psig for the anti-ice mode. When the envioronmental control system (ECS) controller receives ambient air temperature inputs above 35 degrees F, the anti ice mode defaults to the rain-removal mode.

Can you tell us how you know this shadow, do you have a link or something? If that is true, who is to say with hotter air why couldn't it make something like this?

www.edwards.af.mil...

Originally posted by Low Orbit
If that is true, who is to say with hotter air why couldn't it make something like this?

www.edwards.af.mil...

I dont really understand what you are asking. This is a picture of a B-2 forming a Prandtl-Glauert singularity. Read up on it here. It is due to pressure more than anything else.

Sorry Low Orbit, your picture is just as gfad says. It's nothing spooky or unusual.

As to the information on the B-2 anti-rain/anti-ice, I taked to some B-2 crewmembers and looked up the specifics in the "B-2 First Look Aircraft Systems Handbook" (FLASH).

Thanks for the source, sorry for spamming the thread.

Shadowhawk,

Thanks very much for the info! It was driving me quite nuts to not be able to obtain the info on those slits from a reliable (I assume) source. Thanks to all who have been a great help, I look forward to posting and responding to new threads and chatting with you all!

Peace, Mondogiwa

You're talking about the windscreen defogging/deicing system. It has covers that close when it's not is use to reduce the RCS.

Tim