Senior Peg - what the Lockheed Skunk Works nuclear stealth bomber that lost competition to the Northrop B-2 Spirit might have been

Visualizer Adam Burch from Hangar-B Productions created beautiful images of the Senior Peg aircraft that could have replaced the B-2 Spirit.

Here's What We Know

Several decades ago, Lockheed Skunk Works competed with Northrop Grumman for the right to create a new nuclear bomber for the U.S. Air Force. The Senior Ice project won, and the result was the B-2 Spirit strategic bomber, which became the third-generation stealth aircraft (after the SR-71 and F-117).

Now, thanks to visualizer Adam Birch, we can see what the Senior Peg bomber might have been if Lockheed Skunk Works had won the right to build the plane as part of the Advanced Technology Bomber program more than 30 years ago. The images are based on available information, which, by the way, is not much because of the secrecy of the project.

The Senior Peg looks similar to the second-generation Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft, which entered service in 1983. More than $6.56 billion was spent on its stealth attack aircraft development. The aircraft itself cost about $111 million.

After Northrop Grumman won, the company created the B-2 Spirit, which is the most expensive aircraft in military aviation history. Its cost as of the late 1990s was more than $1.1 billion and about $2.1 billion including development costs. Now the U.S. Air Force has 20 strategic bombers Spirit. They are stationed at Whiteman military base, where a B-2 recently caught fire after an emergency landing.

Source: The Drive