USAF B-21 Stealth Bomber Thread

[sandy11]

Thanks!

[scousefowler]

Looking forward to seeing this at FFD

[Seahornet1]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but I think the Raider carries a certain ethereal beauty, as well as being enormously impressive as a design.

This may be a 'Marmite' topic, but are there any other aesthetic opinions out there...?

[moonstone_laura]

From 'Defense One':

B-21 starts engine tests as bomber preps for first flight

Engine tests have begun on the B-21 Raider, the Air Force stealth bomber slated for first flight later this year.

The engine runs are part of B-21 ground tests at planemaker Northrop Grumman’s facility in Palmdale, California. Three more photos of the secretive plane were released on Wednesday, adding to the handful released at the aircraft’s rollout last December [See Above].

Less than a week passed between fueling the B-21 for the first time to starting its engines, said William Bailey, who leads the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office.

“We went from fuel to engine run in less than five days. If you’ve been in the business that's usually measured in weeks—if not more,” Bailey said Wednesday [13th September] at the Air & Space Forces Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber conference.

The software team has all the code it needs for the first flight, and the program is now waiting on the hardware to catch up before the first flight can happen.

Full Story:

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2 ... ht/390261/

[Ravendriver2008]

Ground taxi runs

https://theaviationist.com/2023/10/25/b ... 8HGemQdrjo

cheers