US Air Force: B-21 Bomber Facts

A US Air Force program called the Long Range Strike Bomber, for the provision of a bomber aircraft capable of replacing the B-1, B-2 and B-52, launched in mid-2014 is centered on the B-21, a heavy bomber being developed by Northrop Grumman.

The expected requirements of this aircraft should be a long-range, strategic and stealth bomber with high stealth characteristics, and the ability to launch conventional and thermonuclear weapons. It is expected to enter service and be available to the US Military through the US Air Force for combat purposes around 2025.

The revision stage of the preliminary design has been overcome, approaching the expected model, and the Critical Design Rewie was approved, and detailed aspects of the device are reviewed, however everything is treated within an absolute secret, since it is expected that the B-21 will become the strategic weapon of the United States.

The figures that are handled about the amount of planes that will be manufactured is not less than 100, although it is said that this amount could be increased to 180 or 200 copies, this amount seems small for a plane of which many tasks are expected, if we also take into account that the figures of military materials are reduced by at least 30 percent, including breakdowns, maintenance, and other factors, all this leads to think that the costs per unit of this aircraft will be around 550 and 600 million dollars per unit.

Technical characteristics of the B- 21 Bomber

Although the fundamental aspects of this aircraft are kept absolutely secret, these are some of its technical specifications.

• Long range of action
• Penetration capacity of Anti-access/Denial area environments of high difficulty
• Low radar detectability
• Sensor loading not yet known
• Direct observation of an infantry unit, other aircraft, drones or satellites
• A high computer and computational capacity, multipurpose, apart from being a tactical and strategic bomber, will be able to act in reconnaissance and intelligence tasks and as an element for the coordination of war, applying sensor-shoot networked, the most advanced doctrine of command and control with a high power of integration of information sources, which will allow the B-21 to coordinate with other means for the attack and defense of own units, making it a hub in the air
• Possibility to control unmanned aircraft simultaneously, giving rise to war actions that until today seem like fiction films
• Stealth features will be of a level unknown to this day, it will be ahead of the advances in radars
• Propulsion Pratt & Whitney F135 engines

Facts about the B-21 Bomber

• At an Air War Symposium in 2016, the Bomber was formally designated as the first bomber of the 21st century
• Vendors for the program announced in March 2016 would be BAE Systems of Nashua, GKN Aerospace of St Louis, Janicki Industries of Sedro-Woolley, New Hampshire, Orbital ATK of Clearfield, Pratt & Whitney, Rockwell Collins of Cedar Rapids and Spirit Aerosystems
• The information that the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command had expected that the number of these planes to be built would reach a minimum of 100 was given in April 2016
• In mid-2016, the US Air Force provided information that would not make public the estimated costs of the B-21 manufacturing contract
• The B21 was named Raider, on September 19, 2016, in honor of the Doolittle Raiders of the first American air raid in World War II
• October 25, 2016 the government accounting office published the support to the Air Force to grant the contract to Northrop Grumman

This new plane seems to be already a reality, it continues to make evident progress and will be operational by the middle of this decade and remains the priority of the defense of the United States.

Written by: RosaCastellanos