Photo: Northrop Grumman
“It’s detectable. Until it’s not.” This is how Northrop Grumman describes a new heavy nuclear bomber it’s working on, the B-21 Raider. In the pipeline ever since 2014, the deadly wing-shaped airplane is quickly moving toward operational status, as it was revealed this week.
During the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference held in Maryland earlier this week, the new Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, revealed the fact that there are now “five test aircraft being manufactured on the B-21 production line at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.”
The new piece of info comes after back in January the Program Executive Officer of the B-21 Raider Program, Randall Walden, confirmed two test aircraft were already in the final stages of assembly.
At the time of writing, not much is officially known about the airplane, and that’s understandable, given how it’s one of the few new airborne machines the American military is currently developing.
We do know its number designation, 21, is supposed to be a nod to the fact this plane is the 21st century's first new bomber. It’s based on the fifth-generation global precision attack platform, kind of like the one used for the production of the F-35.
There is no info on the specs of the machine, but judging by the partner companies brought onboard, we can tell at least that the engines will probably be of Pratt & Whitney make (it’s unclear if the B-21 will have two or four of them). We don’t know when the first flight of the B-21 will take place either, but some sources claim the bomber will take to the sky by the end of this year.
Once ready, some 100 B-21s should enter service (probably in the second half of the decade) with the U.S. Air Force, capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons.
The new piece of info comes after back in January the Program Executive Officer of the B-21 Raider Program, Randall Walden, confirmed two test aircraft were already in the final stages of assembly.
At the time of writing, not much is officially known about the airplane, and that’s understandable, given how it’s one of the few new airborne machines the American military is currently developing.
We do know its number designation, 21, is supposed to be a nod to the fact this plane is the 21st century's first new bomber. It’s based on the fifth-generation global precision attack platform, kind of like the one used for the production of the F-35.
There is no info on the specs of the machine, but judging by the partner companies brought onboard, we can tell at least that the engines will probably be of Pratt & Whitney make (it’s unclear if the B-21 will have two or four of them). We don’t know when the first flight of the B-21 will take place either, but some sources claim the bomber will take to the sky by the end of this year.
Once ready, some 100 B-21s should enter service (probably in the second half of the decade) with the U.S. Air Force, capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons.
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