# Why are B2 bombers so expensive?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-b2-bombers-so-expensive/207101
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 13, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-b2-bombers-so-expensive/207101 "2003-10-13T02:58:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Redsland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redsland)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-b2-bombers-so-expensive/207101/21 "2003-10-13T20:09:10Z")
No one denies that B-2s are mothers to maintain. (Well, _almost_ no one denies this. 😉 )
But maintenance factors into the plane’s cost of ownership, not its cost of acquisition.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-b2-bombers-so-expensive/207101/22 "2003-10-13T21:08:22Z")
In the 1994 Defense Authorization Act, Congress authorized 20 B-2’s for $44.65 Billion, or $2.2 Billion each acquisition cost. They also authorized an estimated life cycle cost of $49.9 Billion, or $2.9 Billion each, for a total of $4.7 Billion for each plane.
That’s about $36 from each taxpayer for each plane, or $720/taxpayer for the B-2 program.
It also means that these planes cost about 8 times their weight in gold to buy and operate!
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### Author:  [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-b2-bombers-so-expensive/207101/23 "2003-10-14T07:55:49Z")
good x-com reference toadspittle
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### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-b2-bombers-so-expensive/207101/24 "2003-10-15T05:00:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diceman \*
> \*\*Back in college, one of my professors in Materials Science actually worked on the stealth material for the B2 bombers. He told us why B2’s are such a pain in the ass to maintain. The reason is that the radar-reflecting material is highly hydrophilic – that is, it absorbs water very easily. When the planes fly, air friction causes the plane’s surface to heat up to very high temperatures. This causes the water that’s absorbed into the stealth material to boil away, which causes blisters in the material. \*\*
I don´t buy that, the B2 is a subsonic airplane, there´s no way it can travel fast enought to generate enough friction heath to boil water.
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