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B-2 Spirits Look Like Captured Alien Spacecraft, Escorted by Human Fighter Jets

There are many kinds of military aircraft currently in service, but they all have one thing in common: they follow the general, unspoken design rules of their breeds, hence all of them look more or less the same. Except for the B-2 Spirit.
B-2 Spirits escorted by EA-18G Growlers 6 photos
Photo: USAF/U.S. Navy
USAF and RAAF planes during joint exercise in August 2022USAF and RAAF planes during joint exercise in August 2022USAF and RAAF planes during joint exercise in August 2022USAF and RAAF planes during joint exercise in August 2022USAF and RAAF planes during joint exercise in August 2022
Born in the 1980s, this member of the American Bomber Trifecta (which it forms alongside the B-1B Lancer and the B-52 Stratofortress) is instantly recognizable thanks to its flying wing shape. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) needed it to be drawn like this to be able to incorporate low-observable technologies, while presenting “reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures.”

The design makes it, just like it happened with the F-117 Nighthawk, look more like an alien spacecraft than a human-made machine. And here we have two of them, looking as if they’ve been captured by Earth forces, being escorted to a secret base like in some deleted scene from Independence Day.

The pics show in fact scenes from a Bomber Task Force mission that took place at the beginning of August. It involved B-2 Spirits flown by the USAF (America is the only country that has them), and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) EA-18G Growlers. Leading the formation over the Australian coast is an E-7A Wedgetail.

“Bilateral training missions enhance joint and multilateral readiness, allowing U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to respond to any potential crisis in the region alongside Allies and partners in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), who released the pics, once again taking aim at China and its recent actions off the coasts of Taiwan.

America has just 20 B-2 Spirits in its arsenal, each of them capable of bringing "massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses," the USAF brags.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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