COBI Northrop B-2 Spirit Set 5916

COBI's Northrop B-2 Spirit is a 1:100 model built from 1,109 blocks, 52 cm across, produced under licence from Northrop Grumman. The cockpit opens, the wheels roll on rubber tires, and the bomb bay opens to hold eight Mark 82 bombs. A figure, a black display base with two transparent pins and a white plate with the US flag are included. The set uses prints and a small number of stickers.

Two billion dollars each

The B-2 is the most expensive aircraft ever built, and the arithmetic is worth understanding because it is not simply a matter of gold-plating.

The programme began in 1981 and was costed on 132 aircraft. The Cold War then ended, and Congress cut the order to 21. The development bill did not change, so it was divided across a sixth as many airframes: roughly two billion dollars per aircraft, of which a large share is research and development that had already been spent.

Operating them is not cheap either. The radar-absorbent coatings degrade in rain, heat and sunlight and need constant attention, so the aircraft live in climate-controlled hangars and require many maintenance hours per flight hour. There are only three bases in the world equipped to shelter one.

What it is for

A flying wing has no vertical surfaces to reflect radar and no fuselage to speak of, which is why it looks the way it does. Combined with in-flight refuelling it can strike anywhere on earth from Missouri and return without landing — missions of well over thirty hours have been flown.

It went into action in 1999 over Yugoslavia, and has been used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and, in June 2025, against targets in Iran.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,109 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:100 · Licensed by Northrop Grumman · Eight Mark 82 bombs, opening bay
Model dimensions: 52 × 22 × 5.5 cm (20.5 × 8.7 × 2.2 in)