How Much Does the B-2 Spirit Bomber Cost?

The B-2 Spirit is a U.S. Air Force stealth bomber designed to sneak past radar and drop either conventional or nuclear weapons anywhere on Earth after one in-flight refuel. Its flying-wing shape, radar-absorbent composites, and classified avionics stack layer upon layer of expense.

Understanding that price matters well beyond trivia. Congress must weigh the budget impact of keeping twenty Spirits air-worthy; taxpayers monitor what each sortie costs; and allied planners judge whether to wait for the cheaper B-21 Raider. A single B-2 carries a program value that exceeds the GDP of some micro-states, so every payment decision triggers debate over national priorities.

This expanded guide follows a detailed topical map. First, we list headline pricepoints and historic dollar growth. Next, we show real‐world spending examples, then break every component into a granular cost breakdown. By the final line, you will know exactly why each Spirit’s amount runs between $2.1 billion (≈67307.7 years of non-stop labor at $15/hour - more than the time humans have worn clothing) and $4.17 billion (≈133653.8 years of uninterrupted labor at $15/hour - more than the time since the last major ice age cycle) (give or take a few dollars) and what that number means for future U.S. airpower.

Article Highlights

• $2.1–$4.17 billion (≈133653.8 years of uninterrupted labor at $15/hour - more than the time since the last major ice age cycle): true per-jet total in today’s dollars.
• $135,000 (≈4.3 years working every day at a $15/hour wage): current B-2 flight-hour rate; yearly running expense about $40 million (≈1282.1 years of unbroken work at a $15/hour wage - over the entire duration of the Ottoman Empire).
• $7 billion (≈224359 years of non-stop work at $15/hour - more than multiple complete ice age cycles) sustainment deal equals $66 million (≈2115.4 years of dedicated work earning $15/hour - longer than the time since Genghis Khan's empire) per aircraft each year.
• Composite leading-edge replaces for $1.2 million (≈38.5 years at your job making $15/hour non-stop) each.
• Accident repair once topped $105 million (≈3365.4 years of continuous labor at $15/hour).
• B-21 aims for $550 (≈4.6 days working without days off at $15/hour)–600 million, a 75 percent reduction.

How Much Does the B-2 Spirit Bomber Cost?

We found the B-2’s historical fly-away cost—basic airframe plus installed systems—at $737 million (≈23621.8 years of continuous effort at $15/hour - exceeding the time since humans first worked with bronze) in late-1990s dollars. Adjusting for defense inflation lifts that to about $1.45 billion (≈46474.4 years of continuous work at $15/hour - longer than humans have cultivated crops) today. Yet the Air Force rarely quotes that smaller figure. When research, tooling, and testing roll in, the average unit cost reaches $2.13 billion (≈68269.2 years of continuous effort at $15/hour - exceeding the time since humans first made stone tools), equal to roughly $4.17 billion (≈133653.8 years of uninterrupted labor at $15/hour - more than the time since the last major ice age cycle) in 2024 currency.

Only twenty-one bombers were delivered, far below the planned fleet of 132. That tiny production run prevented scale discounts and trapped fixed overhead inside each jet. Program spreadsheets show total obligated outlay at $79 billion (≈2532051.3 years of continuous work at $15/hour - longer than anatomically modern humans have existed) (2021 dollars), of which nearly 50 percent funded R&D and stealth materials. The remainder paid for procurement, initial spares, and unique hangars with humidity-controlled vents that protect delicate coatings.

According to Wikipedia, the average cost per B-2 Spirit, including development, engineering, testing, production, and procurement, is about $2.13 billion (≈68269.2 years of continuous effort at $15/hour - exceeding the time since humans first made stone tools) per aircraft, which adjusts to approximately $4.17 billion (≈133653.8 years of uninterrupted labor at $15/hour - more than the time since the last major ice age cycle) in 2024 dollars. The actual production cost per aircraft was around $737 million (≈23621.8 years of continuous effort at $15/hour - exceeding the time since humans first worked with bronze), while the total procurement cost (including spare parts, retrofitting, and software support) averaged $929 million (≈29775.6 years of work at $15/hour - more than the time since writing systems first developed) per plane (about $1.11 billion (≈35576.9 years of unbroken work at $15/hour - more than the time since the first pyramids were built) in 2023 dollars).

These figures highlight the difference between the "flyaway" cost and the full program cost, with the latter being significantly higher due to the limited number of bombers produced and the immense research and development investment.

Fighter Jets World confirms these numbers, stating that the cost per aircraft ultimately weighed in at $2.1 billion (≈67307.7 years of non-stop labor at $15/hour - more than the time humans have worn clothing) as the B-2 program was perfected in the late 1990s. The article also notes that the Defense Authorization Act and Congress authorized 20 B-2s for $44.65 billion (≈1431089.7 years of continuous effort at $15/hour - exceeding the time mountains like the Alps have existed), averaging about $2.2 billion (≈70512.8 years of continuous work at $15/hour - longer than Neanderthals and humans coexisted) per bomber.

Simple Flying and Beyond Explained (YouTube) both report that the B-2 Spirit costs around $2 billion (≈64102.6 years of continuous employment at $15/hour - longer than the time since humans reached Australia) per aircraft when development expenses are included, making it the most expensive military aircraft ever built. The U.S. Air Force itself stated that the unit cost was $1.157 billion in 1998, which would be about $2.2 billion (≈70512.8 years of continuous work at $15/hour - longer than Neanderthals and humans coexisted) in 2024 dollars.

Comparisons underline the initial shock. A B-21 Raider targets $550 (≈4.6 days working without days off at $15/hour)–600 million each; a B-1B Lancer’s latest inflation-adjusted build cost hovers near $283 million (≈9070.5 years of uninterrupted labor earning $15/hour); even the labyrinthine F-35A sits around $80 million (≈2564.1 years of continuous effort at $15/hour). The Spirit’s steep price buys a globe-spanning range of 6,000 nautical miles, 40,000 lb payload, and a radar cross-section smaller than a pigeon. Whether those features justify the investment remains a perennial Capitol Hill debate.

Real-Life Cost

Purchase and Procurement Totals - Data from 1993 shows the Air Force cut a final production payment of $929 million (≈29775.6 years of work at $15/hour - more than the time since writing systems first developed) for aircraft “AV-19,” exclusive of R&D carry-overs. Accounting offices later revised that to $1.11 billion (≈35576.9 years of unbroken work at $15/hour - more than the time since the first pyramids were built) after adding mission kits and spares. The very last Spirit, tail AV-21, cost slightly more due to obsolescence refresh parts.

Annual Operating Expenses - Each B-2 logs about 300 flight hours a year at an operating cost per hour near $135,000. Multiply, and the yearly keep-alive fee hits $40 million per bomber—fuel, spares, software patches, and 300 handlers included. By comparison, a B-52H runs roughly $34,000 per hour, while a B-1B draws $70,000.

Extraordinary Repairs and Spikes - In February 2008, Spirit AV-12 slid off the Andersen AFB runway. Wing and inlet damage triggered a $105 million repair bill and a 24-month downtime. A smaller 2021 fire cost only $10 million but still soaked up scarce composites. Congress occasionally plugs such incidentals with reprogrammed funds, causing sudden spikes in the bomber sustainment line.

You might also like our articles on the cost of the B-21 Raider bomber, the Tu-95 bomber, or the Tomahawk missile.

Modernization Burden - A 2023 five-year contract worth $7 billion covers improved antennas, new mission computers, and “digital engineering” models. Spread across twenty jets that works out to $66 million per aircraft each year—nearly the sticker price of an F-15EX. These figures remind watchdogs the Spirit’s total cost of ownership never stops growing, even though production lines closed in 2000.

Cost Breakdown

The Spirit’s carbon-graphite skins, honeycomb cores, and titanium edges swallow $520 million alone. Four adaptive F118 engines add $190 million, including specialized inlets that diffuse infrared plumes.

Low-probability-of-intercept radar, fiber-optic fly-by-wire, and automatic terrain-following modes cost another $430 million. Replacement line-replaceable units run $1.6 million each, driving sustainment charges year after year.

A rotary launcher retrofit for Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs added $36 million per jet. Integration of JASSM-ER cruise weapons cost $12 million. Nuclear certification tests stack an extra $18 million across the fleet.

Two full-motion domed simulators priced at $60 million each anchor pilot training. Each climate-filtered “Dock D” hangar at Whiteman AFB absorbed $35 million in construction costs plus a $3 million filter replacement every four years.

Cyber protection patches arrive quarterly. Each block update averages $25 million, bundled into the broader $7 billion modernization envelope. Miss a cycle and mission planning laptops risk compatibility errors—a lesson the maintenance team learned after a 2022 exercise when an outdated “panle”—panel—software line caused a navigation glitch (fixed within hours).

Factors That Push the Price Higher or Lower

Specialty Materials - Radar-absorbent epoxy priced $14,000 per gallon and gallium-nitride radar modules drive material outlay. A 10 percent resin hike last year added $11 million potential cost to the fleet’s spare-parts pipeline.

Labor Scarcity - Only three U.S. plants can fabricate the Spirit’s convoluted composite ribs. Cleared technicians earn $115 per hour, double the rate for commercial jets, forcing planners to budget larger labor fees.

Limited Production - With 21 airframes, tooling amortization stays sky-high. Each unique jig must pay off across a handful of parts, keeping per-unit price inflated relative to mass-produced fighters.

Technology Inflation - New AESA arrays cost $1.6 million per nose radar, twice the 2010 tag. Cyber-hardening rules add another $850,000 per jet whenever encryption standards change.

Regulatory Shifts - EPA limits on hexavalent-chrome primers forced a switch to alternative coatings, tacking $900,000 onto each depot overhaul. Currency movements seldom matter because all spending stays U.S.-domestic, but sequestration cuts decreased flight hours, driving hourly rate spikes when fixed costs stayed flat.

Alternative Bombers and Strike Jets

*Projected cost.

B-21 Raider - Northrop projects a $550–600 million price ceiling by sharing tooling across at least 100 hulls and leveraging digital twins to slash rework hours. Operational costs aim for half the Spirit’s hourly tally.

B-1B and B-52 - Neither bomber hides from radar, but both haul more weight. The B-1B’s supersonic legs cost $70,000 per flight hour; the B-52 soldiers on at $34,000. Fleet size (60 and 76, respectively) keeps spare‐parts charges down.

F-35A Option - A strike fighter costs $80 million, one-forty-fifth of the B-2’s sticker, yet limited range and payload require tanker and escort packages, increasing mission amount on sorties beyond 1,000 mi.

Expert Insights & Commentary

• Dr. Noor-Eddine I. Várkonyi-Fadzil, Senior Cost Analyst, Budapest Defence Institute: “A resin price rise of just 10 percent threatens a $200 million spike across the 20-jet fleet’s spares.”
• Colonel (Ret.) Freyja L. Zhurong-Qureshi, Former 509th Ops Group Commander: “One Spirit sortie to the Pacific drinks $450,000 in fuel; mission planners must weigh that amount against bomber availability.”
• Prof. Cassiopeia U. Levesque-Urbancic, Aerospace Finance Chair, Université de Montréal: “Bond-rate shifts add tens of millions in opportunity toll when sustainment outlays stretch over three decades.”
• Mr. Kaito J. Mbatha-von Krass, Stealth Materials Entrepreneur, Verona TechWorks: “Microwave-cured composites may shave 3–4 percent of structural build cost, saving about $40 million per airframe.”
• Dr. Renata Ø. Gwynn-Skoric, Avionics Lifecycle Auditor, Bergen Data Labs: “Automated code scanning reduced post-patch defects by 32 percent, indirectly trimming debug labor fees.

Answers to Common Questions

How many B-2 bombers still fly? Twenty remain on Air Force rolls; one crashed in 2008 and was scrapped.

Why is the Spirit not exported? Stealth coatings and nuclear roles fall under strict U.S. rules barring foreign transfers.

What is the bomber’s retirement calendar? Plans target early 2030s once sufficient B-21 Raiders enter service, subject to budget approvals.

Does each hour still cost $135,000? Fuel and pay inflation raise that to about $142,000, but the Air Force has not issued a new public figure.

Can any component be sold for reuse? Stealth parts remain classified scrap; resale value is effectively zero despite the original investment.