USAF B-21 Stealth Bomber Thread

[moonstone_laura]

Looks like Edwards AFB are doing a livestream for the roll out tomorrow (or very early Saturday morning for some of us)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJlJgrvfBY

And on this too:

From Air Force Global Strike Command's Official Twitter Account:

The Future of the U.S. Bomber Force

Tune in tomorrow, Dec 2nd at 8PM EST, to watch the live stream unveiling of the new @usairforce
B-21 Raider

https://dvidshub.net/webcast/30624

[verreli]

Looks like Edwards AFB are doing a livestream for the roll out tomorrow (or very early Saturday morning for some of us)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJlJgrvfBY

Well, they'll have at least two viewers; I hear a Mr Putin and a Mr Xi intend to tune in and there was a third, but he lost interest when he found out it wasn't powered by a rocket.

[Ghost from above]

Watching the livestream and looks like a cut down B2 but I think it should be called "Ghostraider" as the profile in the light reminds me of a ghost. You'll see what I mean when you watch the unveiling.

https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we ... 21-raider/

[davedubya]

Definitely won't generate any UFO sightings...

[verreli]

Well, they rolled it out but that's about it. We still can't see its full profile, how does it minimise IR signature (exhaust mixing?), does it use traditional control surfaces? Loads of questions still to be answered.

[reaper493]

All images are dead centre head ons, they've obviously done that for a reason. Be a long time until other images appear to answer your questions at a guess.

[moonstone_laura]

Takes a while to get going but definitely worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJvcoFnehEM

[Seahornet1]

I really enjoyed the roll-out, well worth staying up late for. I was expecting a lot of excess hype and razzmatazz, but what we actually saw was a bunch of people expressing immense pride in what their teams had achieved. The bomber force fly-over was a great touch (even if it did sabotage the poor guy singing the 'Star-spangled Banner'!), and I loved the cheer from the Northrop-Grumman contingent when 'their' B-2 went over!

As for the Raider itself, I think we saw as much of it as we would have expected. Only a sneak-peek maybe, but probably enough to confirm that the 'Artistic Renderings' from a few years ago were a genuine representation of the jet's configuration and general appearance. Certainly some external physical similarity to the larger B-2, but with significant detail differences in much of what we could see. And from all accounts, the military capability of the platform is on a different planet, compared to anything which has gone before.... (That we know about, anyway!)

Personally, I think it's an enormously exciting design and project, and I can't wait to see one at Fairford!!

[colp]

Still about four years until it enters service.

[moonstone_laura]

USAF releases new B-21 Raider photos:

https://twitter.com/space_osint/status/ ... 879338498/

[Jason32]

Surely that's built with some reference from a certain 1947 incident in New Mexico.

[moonstone_laura]

From 'AirForceTimes':

WASHINGTON — The first flight of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber will occur a few months later than the Air Force anticipated, the service’s secretary said Wednesday.

“It’s slipped from the original schedule — that we were using as a schedule to manage by — by a few months,” Frank Kendall said at the McAleese & Associates conference in Washington, before noting he is recused from making decisions on the program due to his previous consulting work with B-21 manufacturer Northrop Grumman. “It’s still within the baseline [schedule] that we originally had for the program.”

In a statement to Defense News, Northrop Grumman said it still expects to conduct the B-21′s first flight in 2023, “informed by events and data.”

https://www.airforcetimes.com/air/2023/ ... hs-behind/

[POL]

“It’s slipped from the original schedule...It’s still within the baseline [schedule].”


So it's late but also on time.

[Ravendriver2008]

From 'AirForceTimes':

WASHINGTON — The first flight of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber will occur a few months later than the Air Force anticipated, the service’s secretary said Wednesday.

“It’s slipped from the original schedule — that we were using as a schedule to manage by — by a few months,” Frank Kendall said at the McAleese & Associates conference in Washington, before noting he is recused from making decisions on the program due to his previous consulting work with B-21 manufacturer Northrop Grumman. “It’s still within the baseline [schedule] that we originally had for the program.”

In a statement to Defense News, Northrop Grumman said it still expects to conduct the B-21′s first flight in 2023, “informed by events and data.”

https://www.airforcetimes.com/air/2023/ ... hs-behind/

Assuming, it has (or a development vehicle) probably been flying for say several years .......???

cheers

[moonstone_laura]

From 'Defense One':

A prominent airpower think tank says the U.S. Air Force must more than double its planned purchase of a minimum of 100 B-21 bombers if it is to win a war against China.

A total of more than 300 bombers would be needed, including 225 of the recently unveiled B-21 plus several dozen B-1s and B-52s, said Mark Gunzinger, a retired Air Force colonel who leads future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, part of the Air & Space Forces Association industry group.

As well, planned production of B-21s should be sped up to 20 per year from the planned eight or nine, Gunzinger told reporters on Thursday ahead of the rollout of a new Mitchell Institute report on the topic.

Full Story:

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023 ... ns/384121/

[POL]

Another lunatic American who has convinced themselves China wants a war with them.

[moonstone_laura]

Another lunatic American who has convinced themselves China wants a war with them.

Yeah, but perhaps he saw this and got scared:

https://twitter.com/Chunyu_China/status ... 0940387337

To be honest, this lot scares me too!

[POL]

First (real?) B-21 has been rolled out.

It's, uhh, serial 0001.

https://twitter.com/Fighterman_FFRC/sta ... 2391549228

And a bit from The Drive: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/b ... new-images

[sandy11]

Excuse me for my ignorance but is the B-21 designed to replace or complement the B-2?
Many thanks

[jamyt123]

Excuse me for my ignorance but is the B-21 designed to replace or complement the B-2?
Many thanks

Intended to replace the B1 and B2 fleets by 2040. Buffs to fly on forever