NationStates Jolt Archive

L-95 Whirlwind Advanced Heavy Bomber

History

Following the recent Strategic Aerial Defence Review, 2005 the Ministry of Defence came to the conclusion that there was still a future in a conventional-style heavy bomber design and Specification 205.50 was issued calling for a bomber capable of carrying an extremely large bomb load a long distance without refuelling whilst avoiding interception by enemy fighter aircraft and Surface-to-Air Missiles. From this specification, the Aviation Division of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance produced the Whirlwind design which it hopes will not only find favour at home, but also in terms of sales to foreign powers abroad.

Design Characteristics and Manoeuvrability

The Whirlwind’s wings are arranged in a delta formation to provide maximum lift combined with an excellent aerodynamic and stealthy shape, with two tail-planes mounted off-centre towards the rear of the aircraft coming out of the fuselage and canards forwards near the cockpit area. The aircraft’s powerful radar is mounted in the nose and the turrets are set down into the body of the aircraft in order to improve the aerodynamics of the aircraft. The whole craft’s crew is located to the fore of the aircraft.

Manoeuvring ability is not a priority as it is practically impossible to achieve to a sufficient degree to allow the aircraft to engage any other non-bombing missions, such as the engagement of enemy fighters. The aircraft is not equipped with pylon-mounted munitions as standard in order to increase stealth, but several pylons are positioned on the wings to allow the craft to carry additional fuel tanks, which would presumably be ditched long before enemy presence is expected.

Propulsion

While Imperial Praetonian Ordnance decided not to go down the pulse detonation route for fighters, such an engine was developed for the Whirlwind due to the pressing need for enough power to push the aircraft to an adequate speed whilst carrying a large amount of explosives in the internal bay, as well as the Whirlwind’s characteristically substantial defensive weaponry. Four IPO ’Zeus’ Pulse Detonation Engines are mounted near the tail, each developing 46,000lbs of thrust for a total of 184,000lbs. All four engines are equipped with full 3D thrust vectoring allowing the aircraft greater manoeuvrability and the ability to take off from short runways.

The engines can achieve a maximum speed of Mach 2.1 at altitude and a minimum speed of mach 0.3 when thrust vectoring is utilised. The aeroplane can attain a supercruise of Mach 1.6 at altitude, although the general cruise speed is usually kept down as low as possible en route to a hostile area for the sake of fuel efficiency and increased range. All four engines are equipped with integrated automatic fire suppression equipment, and the aircraft is able to remain in the air and limp back to a friendly base or attempt an emergency landing with only one functional engine.

Armament
The Whirlwind can equipped with a variety of attack ordnance in its massive bomb-bays including unguided and guided bombs, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-air missiles, anti-submarine ordnance and glide bombs. Two munitions were developed especially for the Whirlwind. The aircraft is also equipped with air-to-air missiles for self defence, and a number of defensive gun turrets.

4x Electric 25mm ETC Chaincannon Turrets

The primary means of defence against enemy aircraft and fire are the four Chaincannon turrets mounted in the tail, nose, dorsal fuselage and ventral fuselage. These turrets are fully electrically trained to allow them to quickly respond to multiple threats from varying directions, and mount a gun both powerful enough yet small enough to engage and destroy both aircraft and missiles. The chaincannons can fire up to 2,000 rounds per minute in short burst and the turrets are arranged such that they provide an overlapping 360° field of fire.

Like with a ship-based CIWS gun, detection, targeting and engaging of a target occurs automatically using sensors and computers attached to each gun, although the process may be taken over by humans at any stage. The guns are guided by millimetre band radar, the plane’s central radar and high resolution thermal imagers, allowing them precise first-shot accuracy against targets heading towards them. Targets are prioritised by default in the following order, although it may be changed by the crew: immediate threats to the aircraft, immediate threats to other aircraft, potential threats.

This system is most effective when bombers travel together in groups with fighter escort in a ‘Phalanx’ and the system has been shown in computer models to reduce attrition rates for simulated bombing runs against anticipated heavy defences to make such attacks viable once again following years of reliance largely on cruise missiles launched from submarines positioned off an enemy’s coast. 8,000 rounds are carried for each weapon, which weigh 3.5 tonnes each.

Asteroid Extra Long Range Air-to-Air Missile
10 dedicated internal peripheral bay slots

The Asteroid ELRAAM missile was designed specifically for use with the Hussar Advanced Strike Fighter, but is also utilised by the Whilrwind. The weapon is equipped with a RAMjet, enabling it to reach mach 6 at standard aerial combat altitudes. The weapon is primarily guided by a radar feed from the firing plane, but terminal guidance is provided by an high-resolution IR imager. The missile is, therefore, impossible to detect at any considerable range, and is extremely hard to spoof.

As a Long Range Air-to-Air Missile, the weapon has an approximate range of 105 nautical miles at standard aerial combat altitudes. The Whirlwind can carry 10 such missiles in its dedicated peripheral (defensive) internal bays alongside other weapons. If sufficient slots and pylons are dedicated to carrying the Asteroid, hundreds can potentially be carried, offering massive scope for a ‘floating arsenal plane’ in the home defence role. Each missile costs $650,000.

Comet Short Range Air-to-Air Missile
20 dedicated internal bay slots

The Comet SRAAM missile was specifically designed for use with the Hussar Strike Fighter, but is also utilised by the Whirlwind. Like its sister missile the Asteroid, the SRAAM is also equipped with a RAMjet, although the speed is toned down to a mere mach 4 – still enough to outpace any aircraft at combat altitudes. The missile is guided primarily by the high resolution IR imager, but at longer ranges this is used as terminal guidance and primary guidance is provided by radar feed.

As a short range missile, the weapon has an approximate range of 20 nautical miles at standard aerial combat altitudes. The Whirlwind can carry 20 such missiles in dedicated bay slots, a further 20 missiles in place of the Asteroid LRAAMs and, if space is diverted from other weapons, hundreds more can potentially be carried. Each missile costs $350,000.

Additional Fuel Tanks / Wing Pylon Munitions
8 dedicated wing pylons

8 pylons on the planes’ wings are set aside for various munitions and additional fuel tanks. These can carry anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, medium-large bombs, additional fuel tanks, tactical nuclear weapons and large numbers of anti-air missiles. Usually these are not used to carry combat munitions so as to improve stealth, but are intended to carry large amounts of fuel externally and then allow the pilot to ditch the empty fuel tanks before entering a potentially hostile combat zone. Up to 20,000kg of munitions can be carried

Strike Ordnance
3 dedicated internal weapons bays – 20,000kg each

The primary armament of the whirlwind is located in its three massive internal bays which are designed to carry heavy and ultra heavy bombs, nuclear drop bombs / missiles, large conventional missiles and the two new bombs designed specifically for the whirlwind which can be deployed against heavy military or civilian targets:

Kinetic Firestorm Bomb (KFB)

The kinetic firestorm bomb combines elements of kinetic energy bombs with fuel air bombs to create a devastating combination. The front ¾ of the missile consist of a solid tungsten slug with a rounded nose. This can destroy even the heaviest of buildings on descent before it even hits the ground, and will then create a large crater and shockwave in the manner of a conventional bomb, killing large numbers of people nearby and causing massive damage to nearby buildings.

The back ¼ of the bomb is filled with high-octane jet fuel, which will then explode consuming all of the oxygen in the vicinity, killing living creatures and burning objects and installations. This will then create a vaccum near the bomb which will cause air to be sucked in, causing yet more damage and creating a firestorm effect as the fires feed themselves more and more oxygen. Each bomb weighs 20,000kg and takes up an entire bay.

Against military targets and bunkers, this will penetrate even the deepest of bunkers and destroy all that is inside. Airfields will be almost completely destroyed as runways are damaged to the point that it would be easier to replace the runway than to repair it, and secondary explosions of aviation fuel and explosives would cause more damage. Unprotected troop and armour concentrations will be the worst effected.

Against a city, the descent and initial impact will cause massive amounts of localised damage, and the fires then created will quickly sweep through the area initially affected by the impact, causing yet more damage that will destroy factories, houses etc not in the immediate vicinity of the impact of such a bomb. The bomb is guided by GPS.

Ultra Heavy Glide Munition (UHGM)

The UHGM was designed to provide a heavy stand-off weapon capable of delivering a massive explosive to a target without coming within range of nearly as many any defensive systems as would be required to get right on top of a target. When used against a port, it is possible for the Whirlwind to deliver the weapon without once coming under fire from enemy SAMs, and can be on its way home before enemy fighters catch up with it to fire back.

The UHGM is primarily a high explosive weapon, packed with 52,000kg of high explosive (out of a total weight of 60,000kg) although it also mounts to a tungsten nose cap to enable it to dig some way into the ground before the explosives detonate. The weapon is extremely effective against all surface targets, and the shockwave it produces can destroy vast swathes of civilian or military buildings or military formations.

The weapon is not carried inside a bomb bay, but slung under the aircraft’s body instead of bay munitions (although it is possible to mount bay weapons aswell, the UHGM takes up the bays’ entire weight allocation and so this negates the ability to employ the wing pylons to their full potential). The weapon can glide up to 120km when launched from high altitudes, and is guided by GPS.

Defences and Armour

The Whirlwind’s armour is designed to be lightweight and protect mainly against shell splinters and shrapnel, although some special protection is given to the engine, ordnance bays and pilot against aerial cannon. The primary armour is the skin of the aircraft itself. The aircraft is built on a strong honeycombed titanium frame, which is overlaid with a thick layer of Spectra to protect against small arms and small splinters.

The cockpit, ordnance bays (including the turrets) and engine are encased in redundant titanium shells, designed to stop any (already slowed and blunted) cannon rounds or splinters which penetrate the outer armour from entering vital areas of the aircraft and damaging vital systems, or killing the pilot.

As well as ‘hard’ defences, the aircraft is also equipped with soft defences. The Comet SRAAM can be used as an anti-missile missile, although this is not terribly efficient and is only used as a last resort. The aircraft is equipped with next generation flares designed to present a very similar IR signature to the aircraft itself, giving the flares a much greater chance of fooling the latest high resolution thermal imagers. The aircraft is also equipped with chaff.

Exhaust from the engines is piped along the inside of the aircraft and expelled at several points around the bodywork, presenting “hot spots” of IR to attempt to confuse a heat seeking missile, or at least to draw it away from the engine resulting in damage that is not as likely to be fatal. Both these openings and the engine itself are equipped with flash suppressors and IR filters to try to reduce the IR signature of the aircraft.

The fuel tanks (external and internal) are self sealing and fuel injection to any of the engines can be disengaged to attempt to stem the spread of a fire that has broken out, and the argon can be injected into the engines to stifle flame even without necessarily displacing all the oxygen. The pilot is equipped with an ejector seat, which will come into effect automatically if the pilot passes out, rendering him a greater chance of survival.

The aircraft’s control surfaces are controlled by fibre optics (‘fly-by-light”) meaning that damage from EMP blasts will have less of an effect, and will not spread between systems so easily. The central computer is shielded to an extent, and is designed to be able to survive EMP provided the aircraft is a reasonable distance from the blast at least enough to return to its airfield / carrier, or to attempt an emergency landing on a grass field or suitably sized roadway.

Whirlwinds can also be equipped with radar jamming equipment which is strongly advised to be used by around 5% - 10% of aircraft is a reasonably large formation of bombers in order to diminish the threat posed by enemy defences directed by radar.

Electronics and Systems

Active Radar Cancellation Neutralisation Initiative (ARCaNI)

ARCaNI was developed as an answer to aircraft equipped with Active Radar Cancellation. The system works using HCI (Hussar Computer Integration), developed for the Hussar Advanced Strike Fighter, and links all similarly radar systems together. The system then instructs all similarly equipped radars to cycle radar frequency and intensity. Using one radar, a strobe effect will emerge due to the lag between the radar cycle and the ARC equipped plane adapting, but using more than one radar the ARC equipped aircraft will only be able to adapt to one frequency at once, and so when Hussars and Whirlwinds share their radar data the enemy will be unable to hide. ARCaNI is highly classified.

Hussar Computer Integration (HCI)

Hussar Computer Integration, developed for the aircraft of that name, allows all Hussars and Whirlwinds within a certain range to share radar, meteorological, navigation and targeting data amongst themselves and provides each plane with different tasks to optimise performance. This means that a reasonably sized group of aircraft can track and target a practically limitless number of enemy aircraft, and even allow planes whose radar or other systems have been disabled to continue to function at 100% effectiveness. HCI also allows the aircraft to share data with fleets, ground stations, AWACs planes and early warning helicopters.

Whirlwind Advanced Radar - Phased (WARP)

Although a straight port of HARP from the Hussar was considered, it was decided that with a large aircraft such as the Whirlwind a new, more powerful radar could be developed to take advantage of the extra potential of the aircraft. Each individual WARP array is capable of tracking 50 targets at any one time, although using HCI this number can be made almost limitless. The system has a maximum range of approximately 475km at altitude in most weather conditions and in all directions. Radar data feeds directly into the aircraft’s weapon systems and HUD, allowing the pilot view the positions, relative velocities and target lock status of targets overlaid upon his visual cockpit view. The radar is capable of identifying targets from a pre-set database at 180km distant.

Whirlwind Advanced Computer (WAC)

Each Whirlwind receives a mass of data from the pilot and its sensors which must all be processed and a lot of which must be passed on to other Whirlwinds and Praetonian assets. Each Whirlwind is equipped with a computer capable of operating at 40ghz and supplemented by 10gb of memory. The system is capable of collating and processing all the data required to keep the aircraft in the air and fighting.

In addition, WAC co-ordinates the operation of the gun turrets and air-to-air missiles (utilising the guns’ sensors, HCI and WARP) amongst all Whirlwinds in the formation to enable the formation to best allocate its defensive firepower. This ensures that no effort is duplicated or wasted on protecting aircraft being overwhelmed by more missiles than can be defended against. The Whirlwind’s computer system and defensive weaponry gives a formation of Whirlwind bombers and Hussar escorts the best aerial defence system known to the Praetonian MoD.

General Specifications

Name: L-95 Whirlwind Advanced Heavy Bomber
Manufacturer: Imperial Praetonian Ordnance – Aviation Division
Dimensions: (length:) 76m; (wingspan:) 68m; (height inc. tail:) 18m
Crew: 4 (Commander; Co-pilot; Bombardier; Defence Co-ordinator)
Maximum Speed: Mach 2.5 at combat altitude
Minimum Speed: Mach 0.3
Service Ceiling: 21,000m
Armour / Construction: 30mm Kevlar, 18mm titanium honeycomb.
Armament: 4x 25mm turret mounted L25 ETC Chaincannon
10 ELRAAM bay slots
20 SRAAM bay slots
Total Bay: 60,000kg (3x bomb bays of 20,000kg each) + 5,000kg (peripheral defensive armament bay)
6 wing pylons
Total Pylons: 20,000kg
Operational Radius: 11,500km (unrefuelled carrying standard weapons load-out)
Loaded Weight: 298,159kg

Build Cost: $295,000,000
Purchase Cost: $320,000,000

Production Rights Cost: $25,000,000,000 + $20,000,000 / plane.

[OOC: Any constructive criticism is very welcome.]

Bump

For starters, the UHGM is not feasible in its current form. For one thing, the proportion of the weight made up by explosive filler is simply beyond reason. The greatest proportion achievable there while maintaining a viable weapon is about 85% (found in the MOAB & "Daisy Cutter"). This is about the limit due to the need for a stable casing and fuze system. Somehow, this claims 95% of its weight as explosive filler, and that's just not right, especially with the other considerations.
You see, for gliding 120 km, that would require a configuration similar to the SDB. Now, the SDB is a 250 lb class weapon, but only has a 50 lb warhead. This is necessitated due to the large wings, shell casing, fuze, and guidance, all of which need to be superior to that on most conventional bombs. Now, if it wasn't a penetrating weapon, that might be doubled, but that's still only about 40% of the weapon's weight, or mayb 25,000 kg on a weapon of this size. If you want to make it a pure demolition weapon (minimal fragmentation), it might get a bit higher, say 30-35,000 kg explosive filler, but I would probably go with 20,000 kg or less, as you want decent fragmentation with the casing. Otherwise, this isn't a very useful weapon. FAE and MOAB type weapons are cheaper and would have greater psychological impact, and without fragmentation, it's just a big demolition bomb, but there isn't much that it could demolish that smaller and cheaper weapons couldn't do, and for area demolition, a number of smaller weapons would actually be more effective.

Furthermore, the explosive filler isn't the best choice. ONC is indeed the second most powerful explosive out there (tests have shown that in its currently available form, it's actually weaker than its precursor, HpNC). I've also dug up some information relative to pricing, and it brings my guess on the cost to somewhere in the range of $200,000-$250,000 per kilogram (the original precursor costs $40,000/kg, and several kilograms are needed for just 1 kg of finished ONC). Now, even if you can cut that by 90% somehow, that's still a $400-500 million bomb just going with my suggestion of 20,000 kg explosive filler. With that 57,000 kg, you could buy several of the bombers for the price of one bomb! Definitely not worth it, especially when there are other explosives that aren't that far behind in power with only a fraction of the cost. In fact, it is already believed by many that ONC will never be cheap enough for serious military application, despite its properties. HpNC has less than half the cost (still pretty excessive), and I would still only use that for something that needs excellent heat and/or shock resistance, and where price isn't an issue.
My real advice is to go with CL-20, which is a bit weaker (I believe a bit below 75% or so of ONC’s theoretical power), but with current efforts, may end up costing only $695/kg (compared to $926 right now). It’s about as powerful as you get outside of the polynitrocubanes, but the cost reduction alone makes it quite worthwhile.



For the Asteroid missile, either drop it to Mach 5 or so, or don't give it a ramjet. Because of how they operate, ramjets are only good up to about Mach 5. For anything above that, you need something else (scramjet, rocket, or PDE).



As for the bomber itself, the payload is way too high for the current size. When you add it all up, this thing has a payload of about 100,000 kg (I'm including the guns too, as they do count). Then all these other systems, including some notable armor, are added. I don't think it should be carrying that much. Heck, the B-1B is heavier and has only 60% of that payload, with only 35% of the internal load. Granted, this is rather short ranged for a heavy bomber, but that still doesn't quite cover it. Really, this aircraft should be at least in the 300,000 kg class for all that.

Also, as mentioned earlier, the range is very poor for a heavy bomber, and most medium bombers, as well as some heavy fighters, can exceed that easily. The result is that this thing has very limited strike radius (especially considering the size of NS countries), and needs extensive tanker support that would make it rather unattractive, even with its high weapons load. I'd add some extra weight and up that range.

Furthermore, the ARCaNI and HCI aren't really that important. Similar systems are already in widespread use and you don't need something special just for those roles. Datalinks already share information like the HCI and are used just like your system in more modern aircraft. And ARCaNI is also nothing unique. Two radars with shared information (datalink) can defeat most ARC systems. Two LPI radars like that, or a few more non-LPI, and there's pretty much no ARC system that could cope. Simple.
ARC = phenominally overrated

Finally, I think it still might be a bit underpriced. With the construction noted, the array of systems, and whatnot, it might need to be a little more. Just off the top, I'd guess $20-30 million for the guns alone, and with all the bomb bays, the composite and titanium construction, the exhaust venting, etc. I think it might be a good idea to up it by a few tens of millions.

Interesting, I was interesting in to develop mass destruction weapons for my nation, our economy is strong and $20 millions is just really cheap and my scientists could use this plane as a base to build a Sarim Gas-Orange Agent sprayer low-altitude air-fortress

OOC: Come to think of it, the production rights cost needs to be fixed a bit there. I think that's supposed to be $25 billion, but I'm not sure.


IC:
We're afraid you seem to be mistaken as to the cost.
The purchase cost of the aircraft is currently listed as $320 million. The figure that you happen to be looking at would be what you pay them for every aircraft you build if you purchase production rights. That would mean you pay for the production rights up front ($25 billion, we beilieve), then build the aircraft ($295 million each according to the official figures), and then pay them the $20 million for each aircraft. This is not really an economical choice, however, unless you either 1) manage to cut costs somewhere or 2) are constructing over 5000 of the aircraft.

For starters, the UHGM is not feasible in its current form. For one thing, the proportion of the weight made up by explosive filler is simply beyond reason. The greatest proportion achievable there while maintaining a viable weapon is about 85% (found in the MOAB & "Daisy Cutter"). This is about the limit due to the need for a stable casing and fuze system. Somehow, this claims 95% of its weight as explosive filler, and that's just not right, especially with the other considerations.
Ok, I didnt know this and was largely guessing on the filler weight. I just wasnt aware that I would really require more than a few tonnes worth of wings etc, considering that this is basically just a bomb with wings, some fins, a gyroscope and a GPS uplink. I'll edit the stats.

You see, for gliding 120 km, that would require a configuration similar to the SDB. Now, the SDB is a 250 lb class weapon, but only has a 50 lb warhead. This is necessitated due to the large wings, shell casing, fuze, and guidance, all of which need to be superior to that on most conventional bombs. Now, if it wasn't a penetrating weapon, that might be doubled, but that's still only about 40% of the weapon's weight, or mayb 25,000 kg on a weapon of this size. If you want to make it a pure demolition weapon (minimal fragmentation), it might get a bit higher, say 30-35,000 kg explosive filler, but I would probably go with 20,000 kg or less, as you want decent fragmentation with the casing.
Ok... Im not quite sure that I'll need 40 tonnes worth of bomb to cart 20 tonnes worth of explosives, but I take on board your points about the range which I was wondering about myself. I will change it to around 70km (the distance that the AGM-154 JSOW can travel despite having tiny wings and being launched from lower and slower speeds).

Otherwise, this isn't a very useful weapon. FAE and MOAB type weapons are cheaper and would have greater psychological impact, and without fragmentation, it's just a big demolition bomb, but there isn't much that it could demolish that smaller and cheaper weapons couldn't do, and for area demolition, a number of smaller weapons would actually be more effective.
Well the MOAB is actually exactly the same type of bomb except without the glide wings... It's designed primarily for use against military targets such as ports, airstrips etc which cannot be dug in and yet are extremely large and important. Glide bombs are an excellent way of delivering stand-off weapons without unduly compromising the warhead load.

Furthermore, the explosive filler isn't the best choice. ONC is indeed the second most powerful explosive out there (tests have shown that in its currently available form, it's actually weaker than its precursor, HpNC). I've also dug up some information relative to pricing, and it brings my guess on the cost to somewhere in the range of $200,000-$250,000 per kilogram (the original precursor costs $40,000/kg, and several kilograms are needed for just 1 kg of finished ONC). Now, even if you can cut that by 90% somehow, that's still a $400-500 million bomb just going with my suggestion of 20,000 kg explosive filler. With that 57,000 kg, you could buy several of the bombers for the price of one bomb! Definitely not worth it, especially when there are other explosives that aren't that far behind in power with only a fraction of the cost. In fact, it is already believed by many that ONC will never be cheap enough for serious military application, despite its properties. HpNC has less than half the cost (still pretty excessive), and I would still only use that for something that needs excellent heat and/or shock resistance, and where price isn't an issue.
My real advice is to go with CL-20, which is a bit weaker (I believe a bit below 75% or so of ONC’s theoretical power), but with current efforts, may end up costing only $695/kg (compared to $926 right now). It’s about as powerful as you get outside of the polynitrocubanes, but the cost reduction alone makes it quite worthwhile.
Ok. The explosive doesnt really matter. To be perfectly honest, I was never quite sure what the ONC crazy was all about, but everyone seemed to be telling be it was ZOMFG the best, and so I put it in. I'll edit it out and just say "high explosive", since Im not a demolitions expert.

For the Asteroid missile, either drop it to Mach 5 or so, or don't give it a ramjet. Because of how they operate, ramjets are only good up to about Mach 5. For anything above that, you need something else (scramjet, rocket, or PDE).
From what I've read, RAMjets can operate up to Mach 6, although Mach 5 would probably be more efficient. Still, the missile does not have to travel at maximum speed all the time, and could easily use Mach 5 unless necessary to catch the target.

As for the bomber itself, the payload is way too high for the current size. When you add it all up, this thing has a payload of about 100,000 kg (I'm including the guns too, as they do count). Then all these other systems, including some notable armor, are added. I don't think it should be carrying that much. Heck, the B-1B is heavier and has only 60% of that payload, with only 35% of the internal load. Granted, this is rather short ranged for a heavy bomber, but that still doesn't quite cover it. Really, this aircraft should be at least in the 300,000 kg class for all that.[/quote]
Actually the B-1B is 50,000kg lighter than this when you compare full loads, but I agree that it is a little light. I'll raise the weight to ~280,000kg.

Also, as mentioned earlier, the range is very poor for a heavy bomber, and most medium bombers, as well as some heavy fighters, can exceed that easily. The result is that this thing has very limited strike radius (especially considering the size of NS countries), and needs extensive tanker support that would make it rather unattractive, even with its high weapons load. I'd add some extra weight and up that range.
Actually this has a slightly longer range than the B-1B with full weapons load, but I take your point. I'll raise the weight to ~300,000kg and increase the range somewhat, as I agree that NS ranges are somewhat larger than RL ones.

Furthermore, the ARCaNI and HCI aren't really that important. Similar systems are already in widespread use and you don't need something special just for those roles. Datalinks already share information like the HCI and are used just like your system in more modern aircraft. And ARCaNI is also nothing unique. Two radars with shared information (datalink) can defeat most ARC systems. Two LPI radars like that, or a few more non-LPI, and there's pretty much no ARC system that could cope. Simple.
ARC = phenominally overrated
Well that's what I wrote in the descriptions for those systems, but thanks for pointing it out again...

Finally, I think it still might be a bit underpriced. With the construction noted, the array of systems, and whatnot, it might need to be a little more. Just off the top, I'd guess $20-30 million for the guns alone, and with all the bomb bays, the composite and titanium construction, the exhaust venting, etc. I think it might be a good idea to up it by a few tens of millions.
*shrug* Ok. It's hard to price these things since nothing similar really exists in RL.

Interesting, I was interesting in to develop mass destruction weapons for my nation, our economy is strong and $20 millions is just really cheap and my scientists could use this plane as a base to build a Sarim Gas-Orange Agent sprayer low-altitude air-fortress
To: Whom it May Concern, Meridianum
From: Sir Fortunus Gallius, MP
Director-General of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance

I am not quite sure what you are proposing. Do you wish to purchase some bombers, or are you merely expressing your intent to develop biological weapons? Either can be facilitated.

To: Whom it May Concern, Clan Smoke Jaguar
From: Sir Fortunus Gallius, MP
Director-General of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance

I am not mistaken as to the cost.

To: Sir Fortunus Gallius, MP
Director-General of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance
From: General Avery Carson, Grand Republican Ordinance Department

The Grand Republic, moving slowly out of its phase of extreme isolationism, wishes to purchase the production rights for these bombers for use by the Republican Air Force, particularly in concert with other designs we may be purchasing/creating. The funds for $25,000,000,000 have been wired to your usual account, alongside plans for the Grand Republics new Hard Vacuum Rifle, designed for Zero-G combat; this may be of use for your developing Space Force.

To: General Avery Carson
Grand Republican Ordnance Department
From: Sir Fortunus Gallius, MP
Director-General of Imperial Praetonian Ordnance
Subject: Whirlwind Production Rights

We are pleased to see that our friends in the Grand Republican have deemed this design suitable for use in their airforce, and we are pleased to be able to agree to your deal for production rights. Note that as has been stated doing so is only economically sound if you are intending to build large numbers of aircraft, but depending on how long you intend to keep the craft in service this may well be the case. Thankyou also for the designs for the Hard Vacuum Rifle, which will no doubt be an asset to the company in future.

'The aeroplane can attain a supercruise of Mach 1.6 at altitude, although the general cruise speed is usually kept down as low as possible en route to a hostile area for the sake of fuel efficiency and increased range.'
PDE are more effiecient at supersonic then subsonic.

It is not as fast (many of the top-o-the-line SAMs and AAMs go faster then this, and even if they were slower they could still hit it head on) or manuverable (pilot's cant handle the foreces) as is needed to aviod "interception by enemy fighter aircraft and Surface-to-Air Missiles"

Active stealth as Clan Smoke Jaguar said is not too good (also active stealth cant do a thing about the wake that the aircraft would make and some RADARs and Lasers can detect that)

Also what is the cieling?

'The aeroplane can attain a supercruise of Mach 1.6 at altitude, although the general cruise speed is usually kept down as low as possible en route to a hostile area for the sake of fuel efficiency and increased range.'
PDE are more effiecient at supersonic then subsonic.
I do not specify that the speed is kept below Mach 1.0.

It is not as fast (many of the top-o-the-line SAMs and AAMs go faster then this, and even if they were slower they could still hit it head on) or manuverable (pilot's cant handle the foreces) as is needed to aviod "interception by enemy fighter aircraft and Surface-to-Air Missiles"
A lot of modern SAMs (even in real life) can reach mach 5. Even the fastest and most manoeuvrable of aircraft cannot avoid actually being hit to any great degree of success. This does not avoid interception by going faster than its opponent, but by using its highly advanced interlinking defensive systems whilst in formation to shoot down enemy fighters and missiles, and also by jamming radar, launching anti-radiation missiles, etc. etc.

Active stealth as Clan Smoke Jaguar said is not too good (also active stealth cant do a thing about the wake that the aircraft would make and some RADARs and Lasers can detect that)
I dont actually mention active stealth anywhere...

Also what is the cieling?
Will add that stat in just a min.

*bump*