a sixth northrop grumman b-21 raider strategic stealth bomber has entered assembly
while the manufacturer continues to validate its software in anticipation of a rollout
and made in flight before the end of 2022
the b21 going into the future is going to be our penetrating
get inside the anti-access area of denial dual capable aircraft director of strategic plans
programs and requirements edis air force global strike command major general jason r mcgost said
on february 9 2022 at the 2022 nuclear deterrence summit there are now six of those in existence
the rollout will probably be sometime this year armagoss said according to air force magazine
in 2020 it was announced that the aircraft's first flight was likely to take place in 2022
in mid-2021 it was revealed that five b-21s were being assembled
and the rollout of the first completed aircraft was expected to happen in mid-2022
the aircraft entered development in 2014 and is expected to serve as a
replacement for both the b2 spirit and the b1 lancer while similar in shape to the b-2
the b-21 will be lighter cheaper and stealthier
geared towards the penetration of heavily protected airspace in a conflict with on
your pure adversary the b-21 was said to be able to operate in tandem with us warm of
drones referred to as loyal wingmen as well as a capable reconnaissance and surveillance platform
the aircraft will be powered by a pair of pratt and whitney f-135 turbofan engines
the same type currently used by the lockheed martin f-35 lightning ii fighter jet
it will also use some other existing technologies to reduce the cost and production time
the united states air force usaf revealed that it expects to purchase
at least 100 b-21s for a cost of 600 million dollars per unit
the current six b-21s are a part of the engineering and manufacturing development
tmd phase of the program this means that while they can be considered prototypes the aircraft
are also likely to become the core of yusef's b-21 fleet later in their life
according to the war zone this mirrors the development of the b-2 back in the 1980s
when six aircraft were also built during the emd phase and later entered service
additionally according to armagost all b21s have a modernization effort built into them
this means that early production aircraft are expected to be modified
making them as capable as the latest models when upgrades become available
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