The B-2 Spirit holds the record as the most expensive plane ever built, with a unit cost of roughly $2.1 billion. The stealth bomber’s astonishing price tag came in large part because of the massive investment in research and development for its stealth technology, and the fact that only 21 of the aircraft were ever built.

But the B-2’s initial cost is only one part of its enormous expense. The bomber also has an astronomical ongoing flight cost, with estimates ranging from $150,000 to $200,000 per hour. The costs stem not from fuel consumption or crew size, but from stealth maintenance, hyper-specialized infrastructure, and a tiny production run that prevented economies of scale. Sustaining such an expensive aircraft is a major factor in the Air Force decision to retire the B-2 in the near-future—ironically before the venerable B-52 Stratofortress, which the B-2 was introduced to replace.

The B-2 Spirit uses a generation-old form of radar-absorbent material (RAM), which is far more maintenance-dependent than more modern stealth coatings. The earlier designs require hand-applied coatings that degrade easily when exposed........

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