Air Force’s new nuclear stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, has taken its first test flight

NOVEMBER 10, 2023:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The B-21 Raider took its first test flight on Friday (Nov. 10, 2023), moving the futuristic warplane closer to becoming the nation’s next nuclear weapons stealth bomber.

The Raider flew in Palmdale, California, where it has been under testing and development by Northrop Grumman.

The Air Force is planning to build 100 of the warplanes, which have a flying wing shape much like their predecessor the B-2 Spirit but will incorporate advanced materials, propulsion and stealth technology to make them more survivable in a future conflict. The plane is planned to be produced in variants with and without pilots.

“The B-21 Raider is in flight testing,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said.

Such testing is a critical step in the campaign to provide “survivable, long-range, penetrating strike capabilities to deter aggression and strategic attacks against the United States, allies, and partners,” Stefanek said.

Northrop Grumman Corp. is based in Falls Church, Virginia.

The B-21 Raiders will be stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City.

DECEMBER 3, 2022:

PALMDALE , Calif. (AP) — The United States’ newest nuclear stealth bomber has made its public debut after years of secret development. The new bomber is part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China. The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft built in more than 30 years. The Pentagon provided the public its first glimpse of the Raider at an invitation-only event in Palmdale, California, on Friday (Dec. 2, 2022). Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calls it “the embodiment of America’s determination to defend the republic that we all love.” Falls Church, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman is building the Raider, which will take its first flight next year.

DECEMBER 2, 2022:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States’ newest nuclear stealth bomber is making its public debut after years of secret development. The new bomber is part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China. The B-21 Raider gets its name from the 1942 Doolittle Raid over Tokyo and is the first new American bomber aircraft built in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the B-21 Raider program is classified. The Pentagon is providing the public its first glimpse of the Raider at an invitation-only event in Palmdale, California, on Friday (Dec. 2, 2022). Falls Church, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman is building the Raider, which will take its first flight next year.

In less than three months, the public will get a look at the new US military bomber that will be stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City.

Robert Sullivan

Artist’s rendering of B-21 Raider bomber in a hangar at Ellsworth Air Force Base.
Image credit Northrop Grumman.

Extended version:

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber is making its public debut after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China.

The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is classified. Ahead of its unveiling Friday (Dec. 2, 2022) at an Air Force facility in Palmdale, California, only artists’ renderings of the warplane have been released. Those few images reveal that the Raider resembles the black nuclear stealth bomber it will eventually replace, the B-2 Spirit.

The bomber is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize all three legs of its nuclear triad, which includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it shifts from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to meet China’s rapid military modernization.

China is on track to have 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035, and its gains in hypersonics, cyber warfare, space capabilities and other areas present “the most consequential and systemic challenge to U.S. national security and the free and open international system,” the Pentagon said this week in its annual China report.

”We needed a new bomber for the 21st Century that would allow us to take on much more complicated threats, like the threats that we fear we would one day face from China, Russia, ” said Deborah Lee James, the Air Force secretary when the Raider contract was announced in 2015. “The B-21 is more survivable and can take on these much more difficult threats.”

While the Raider may resemble the B-2, once you get inside, the similarities stop, said Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp., which is building the Raider.

“The way it operates internally is extremely advanced compared to the B-2, because the technology has evolved so much in terms of the computing capability that we can now embed in the software of the B-21,” Warden said.

Other changes likely include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, new ways to control electronic emissions, so the bomber could spoof adversary radars and disguise itself as another object, and use of new propulsion technologies, several defense analysts said.

In a fact sheet, Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia, said it is using “new manufacturing techniques and materials to ensure the B-21 will defeat the anti-access, area-denial systems it will face.”

Warden could not discuss specifics of those technologies but said the bomber will be more stealthy.

“When we talk about low observability, it is incredibly low observability,” Warden said. “You’ll hear it, but you really won’t see it.”

Six B-21 Raiders are in production; The Air Force plans to build 100 that can deploy either nuclear weapons or conventional bombs and can be used with or without a human crew. Both the Air Force and Northrop also point to the Raider’s relatively quick development: The bomber went from contract award to debut in seven years. Other new fighter and ship programs have taken decades.

The cost of the bombers is unknown. The Air Force previously put the price for a buy of 100 aircraft at an average cost of $550 million each in 2010 dollars — roughly $753 million today — but it’s unclear how much the Air Force is actually spending.

The fact that the price is not public troubles government watchdogs.

“It might be a big challenge for us to do our normal analysis of a major program like this,” said Dan Grazier, a senior defense policy fellow at the Project on Government Oversight. “It’s easy to say that the B-21 is still on schedule before it actually flies. Because it’s only when one of these programs goes into the actual testing phase when real problems are discovered. And so that’s the point when schedules really start to slip and costs really start to rise.”

The Raider will not make its first flight until 2023. However, using advanced computing, Warden said, Northrop Grumman has been testing the Raider’s performance using a digital twin, a virtual replica of the one being unveiled.

The B-2 was also envisioned to be a fleet of more than 100 aircraft, but the Air Force ultimately built only 21 of them, due to cost overruns and a changed security environment after the Soviet Union fell.

Fewer than that are ready to fly on any given day due to the significant maintenance needs of the aging bomber, said Todd Harrison, an aerospace specialist and managing director at Metrea Strategic Insights.

The B-21 Raider, which takes its name from the 1942 Doolittle Raid over Tokyo, will be slightly smaller than the B-2 to increase its range, Warden said.

In October 2001, B-2 pilots set a record when they flew 44 hours straight to drop the first bombs in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the B-2 often does long round-trip missions, because there are few hangars globally that can accommodate its wingspan. That limits where B-2s can land for needed post-flight maintenance. And the hangars needed to be air-conditioned — because the Spirit’s windows don’t open, hotter climates can cook cockpit electronics.

The new Raider will also get new hangars, to accommodate the size and complexity of the bomber, Warden said.

A last noticeable difference is in the debut itself. While both will have debuted in the Air Force’s Palmdale Plant 42, in 1989 the B-2 was rolled outdoors amid much public fanfare.

Given advances in surveillance satellites and cameras, the Raider will debut very much under wraps and will be viewed inside a hangar. Invited guests including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will witness the hangar doors open to reveal the bomber for its public introduction, then the doors will close again.

“The magic of the platform,” Warden said, “is what you don’t see.”

SEPTEMBER 2022:

In less than three months, the public will get a look at the new US military bomber that will be stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, SD.

U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the public unveiling of the B-21 Raider bomber will happen the first week of December (2022) in Palmdale, California.

Rounds says, “The B-21 Raider bomber will play a crucial role in the defense of our nation and have a major impact on the Rapid City area for the next 50 years. I was pleased to see the progress on the B-21 when I visited the production facility in July.”

JUNE 10, 2021:

South Dakota’s Congressional delegation is applauding the decision to make Ellsworth Air Force Base the primary home of the US Air Force’s B-21 bomber.

The U.S. Air Force signed a record of decision yesterday (June 9, 2021) officially designating Ellsworth Air Force Base to be Main Operating Base 1 for the B-21 bomber. This designation not only means that Ellsworth will be the first base to host the B-21 Raider, but it will host the formal training unit and first operational squadron.

Senator John Thune:

“South Dakotans know what an asset Ellsworth Air Force Base is to our state and our country, and today, we’re incredibly proud of this historic, once-in-a-generation opportunity to host the B-21 bomber. It’s redeeming to still have Ellsworth at the forefront of our national defense when we were slated for closure 16 years ago. This mission will bring thousands of new airmen, spouses, and dependents to the base, spur hundreds of millions of dollars of construction activity in preparation for the stealth and nuclear mission, and drive increased economic development in the region. It’s an exciting time for Raider Country and everyone who’s worked so hard to make today possible.”

Senator Mike Rounds:

“I am pleased that the U.S. Air Force has officially selected Ellsworth Air Force Base as the first home of the B-21 Raider bomber. This landmark decision makes certain that South Dakota will continue to play a critical role in our national defense. The selection of Ellsworth is a testament to the hard work of our Air Force personnel on the ground at Ellsworth and the communities of Box Elder and Rapid City that have worked hard to improve the long-term suitability of the base for this new state-of-the-art aircraft.

“As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I’ve worked actively to secure full funding for the B-21 program being developed by Northrup Grumman for the Air Force. I can tell you that this is one of the most advanced weapon systems to ever be developed. The B-21 will help deter our adversaries, especially China, thanks to its long-range, speed, stealth and payload. This weapon system will play a crucial role in the defense of our nation and have a huge economic impact on the Rapid City area for the next 50 years.”

US Representative Dusty Johnson:

“This has been a long journey. We’ve felt good about our progress over the last few years, but now we can say without any hedging or hesitation: our nation’s first B-21 bombers will call Ellsworth home.”

According to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) produced as part of the formal basing decision, the B-21 mission will support a projected 7,700 airmen, spouses, and dependents at Ellsworth, with a total end-state increase of 3,147 individuals. These figures will increase beyond end-state projections during the transition from the B-1 mission to the B-21. The Final EIS also projects that, in addition to 1,664 new airmen, the mission will result in 582 indirect jobs and $23,878,400 in economic activity. Approximately 4.3 million square feet of new construction and 1.7 million square feet of renovation will be conducted over the next several years in preparation for the B-21 mission. The record of decision formally enables the Air Force to proceed with planning and contracting for the military construction activity, which will progress alongside the active B-1 mission.

Background:

In March 2019, the Air Force announced Ellsworth was the preferred location for the first home of the B-21 Raider bomber.

In January 2021, Rounds’ provision to address the Air Force’s bomber shortfall, which directly supports B-21 bomber program and Ellsworth Air Force Base, became law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021.

In December 2019, Rounds secured full funding for the B-21 bomber program with the signing of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2020.

As governor, Rounds successfully advocated for the removal of Ellsworth from the Department of Defense’s proposed closure list during a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round in 2005. Following that effort, he led a legislative effort to establish the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority (SDEDA). Now a permanent fixture, the SDEDA’s mission is to protect, strengthen and promote the base.

Air Force’s new nuclear stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, has taken its first test flight

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