B-21 Raider
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The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American
strategic bomber A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, ...
under development for the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
(USAF) by
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...
. As part of the
Long Range Strike Bomber The Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) is a development and acquisition program to develop a long-range strategic bomber for the United States Air Force, intended to be a heavy-payload stealth aircraft capable of delivering thermonuclear weapons. ...
(LRS-B) program, it is to be a long-range, stealth intercontinental strategic bomber for the USAF, able to deliver conventional and
thermonuclear weapon A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
s. The Air Force is planning to replace the
Rockwell B-1 Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It is commonly called the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of three strategic bombers serving in the U.S. Air Force fleet along with ...
and
Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...
with the B-21 by 2040, and could possibly replace the
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
after that. The Air Force began planning for the B-21 in 2011 and awarded the major development contract in 2015. The B-21 is expected to make its first flight in 2023 and enter service by 2027. Many aspects of the B-21 program are highly classified; the program is designated as a special access program. The
Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a c ...
noted in 2021 that the B-21's technical details and specifications, such as speed, enabling systems, "size, required stealth, structure, number and type of engines, projected weapons, and onboard sensors remain classified" although some information about various other aspects of the program have been made public since 2015. The first photos of the aircraft were released on 2 December 2022, taken during a rollout ceremony at Northrop Grumman's production facilities in Palmdale, California.


Design and development

The classified
Long Range Strike Bomber The Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) is a development and acquisition program to develop a long-range strategic bomber for the United States Air Force, intended to be a heavy-payload stealth aircraft capable of delivering thermonuclear weapons. ...
(LRS-B) program began in 2011, and the Air Force issued a request for proposal to develop a LRS-B aircraft in July 2014. A development contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman in October 2015.
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
and
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
, who submitted losing bids for the project, filed bid protests; in October 2016, the
Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...
(GAO) rejected the challenges and sustained the USAF's decision to award the LRS-B contract to Northrop Grumman. The GAO report revealed that cost was the deciding factor in selecting Northrop Grumman over the Boeing-Lockheed Martin team. Management and acquisition of the B-21 program is being overseen by the
Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO or DAF RCO) is an office in the United States Department of the Air Force tasked with expediting the development of select technological systems. The RCO was activated by the secretary of the Air Force ...
, rather than through the traditional military-procurement process. However, the B-21 program remains subject to the Nunn–McCurdy reporting requirements to Congress. A 2015 media report said the Air Force wanted the bomber to also function as an intelligence collection platform,
battle manager Battle command (BC) is the discipline of visualizing, describing, directing, and leading forces in operations against a hostile, thinking, and adaptive enemy. Battle command applies leadership to translate decision into actions, by synchronizing ...
, and
interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...
. In 2016, then–Secretary of the Air Force
Deborah Lee James Deborah Roche Lee James (born November 25, 1958) served as the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force. She is the second woman, after Sheila Widnall (1993–1997), to ever hold this position. James was confirmed as 23rd Secretary of the Air Force on De ...
said that the B-21 would be a "fifth-generation global precision attack platform" with networked sensor-shoot capability. Northrop Grumman describes the B-21 as "the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft." At the 2016 Air Warfare Symposium, Air Force officials announced that the LRS-B would be formally designated "B-21" because the aircraft would be the 21st century's first bomber. In September 2016, Air Force officials announced that the B-21 would be named "Raider" in honor of the
Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...
ers. Retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, the last living member of the Doolittle Raiders, was present at the naming ceremony at the
Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is " ...
conference. In March 2016, the USAF announced seven tier-one suppliers for the program:
Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military aviat ...
,
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
,
Spirit AeroSystems Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fu ...
,
Orbital ATK Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alli ...
,
Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Comp ...
,
GKN Aerospace GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...
, and Janicki Industries. In 2016, the
F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...
program manager Chris Bogdan said the B-21's engines would be similar enough to the F-35's Pratt & Whitney
F135 The Pratt & Whitney F135 is an afterburning turbofan developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, a single-engine strike fighter. It has two variants; a Conventional Take-Off and Landing ( CTOL) variant used in the F-35A and F-35C, and a ...
engine to reduce its cost. The program completed its critical design review in December 2018. In January 2020, Air Force officials released new B-21 renderings and Northrop Grumman, showing the distinctive flush and blended inlets and the two-wheel main landing gear design. The drawing appeared to show a smaller, lighter aircraft than the B-2.In September 2022, the USAF announced that the B-21 was to be unveiled in early December 2022 at Northrop Grumman's production facilities in Palmdale, California. The ceremony took place on 2 December 2022. At the unveiling, Northrop CEO
Kathy Warden Kathy J. Warden is an American business executive who serves as chief executive officer and president of Northrop Grumman, as of 2019. Education Warden graduated from Smithsburg High School. She then earned a bachelor's degree at James Madison U ...
said that the B-21 is designed with modular,
open systems architecture Open systems architecture is a system design approach which aims to produce systems that are inherently interoperable and connectable without recourse to retrofit and redesign. Concept Systems design is a process of defining and engineering the ...
to allow easy upgrades, and potentially, the ability to export components to foreign buyers. Warden said that the B-21's internal operations were "extremely advanced compared to the B-2" and that the B-21 was slightly smaller than the B-2, with a longer
range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...
.


Production and assembly

In February 2016, the head of the
Air Force Global Strike Command Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. AFGSC provides combat-ready forces to conduct strategic nuclear deterrence and global stri ...
said he expected the service would place an initial order for 100 B-21s and build up to a full fleet of 175 to 200. In 2017, two USAF studies suggested that Air Force could increase its initial purchase from 80-to-100 to 145 aircraft. Assembly of the B-21 takes place at the
United States Air Force Plant 42 United States Air Force Plant 42 is a classified aircraft manufacturing plant owned by the United States Air Force in the Antelope Valley, about from downtown Los Angeles. It is also used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N ...
near
Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...
, at the same facility Northrop Grumman used during the 1980s and 1990s to build B-2 bombers.W.J. Hennigan
Exclusive: The Making of the U.S. Military's New Stealth Bomber
''Time'' (December 3, 2022).
In January 2017, Northrop Grumman was awarded a $35.8 million contract modification for a large coatings facility at Plant 42, to be completed by the end of 2019; the contract announcement did not specifically mention B-21, but the facility was likely meant for B-21 stealth coating. By the summer of 2019, it was reported that construction of the first aircraft was underway. In early 2021, several media outlets reported that as completion of the first B-21 approached, construction on the second unit had begun. At a congressional hearing in June 2021, Darlene Costello, the acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, confirmed that the first two B-21s were under construction at Plant 42. By February 2022, six B-21s were under construction. The first B-21 was moved to a calibration facility the following month. About 8,000 Northrop Grumman employees had worked on the program with greater than 400 suppliers from at least 40 different states.


Program costs

In July 2016, the USAF said it would not release the estimated cost of Northrop's B-21 contract, asserting that the number would reveal too much information about the classified project to potential adversaries. The
Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defe ...
also voted to not publicly release the program's cost, restricting the information to congressional defense committees over the objections of a bipartisan group of legislators led by the committee's chairman, Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
. McCain's proposed revisions to the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (; NDAA 2017Pub.L. 114-328 is a United States federal law specifying the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) for Fiscal Year 2017. History ''Nation ...
would have reduced authorization for the B-21 program by $302 million "due to a lower than expected contract award value", while requiring "strict...program baseline and cost control thresholds", "quarterly program performance reports", and "disclosure of the engineering and manufacturing development total contract award value". The versions of the 2017 NDAA as initially passed by the House and Senate would have required public disclosure of the total cost of the B-21, but this provision was removed in the final
conference report In the United States Congress, a conference report refers to the final version of a bill that is negotiated between the House of Representatives and the Senate via conference committee. It is printed and submitted to each chamber for its considerat ...
version. In December 2022, the cost of a B-21 aircraft was estimated to be $700 million; at the time, Air Force officials estimated that they would spend at least $203 billion over 30 years to develop, purchase, and operate a fleet of 100 B-21s.


Maintenance, sustainment, and operation

Maintenance and sustainment of the B-21 will be coordinated by
Tinker Air Force Base Tinker Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force base, with tenant U.S. Navy and other Department of Defense missions, located in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, surrounded by Del City, Oklahoma City, and Midwest City. The base, origina ...
, Oklahoma, while
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...
, California, will lead testing and evaluation. The B-21 is expected to operate from bases that currently host heavy bombers, such as
Dyess Air Force Base Dyess Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located about southwest of downtown Abilene, Texas, and west of Fort Worth, Texas. The host unit at Dyess is the 7th Bomb Wing assigned to the Global Strike Command Ei ...
, Texas;
Ellsworth Air Force Base Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located about northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder, South Dakota, Box Elder. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW). Assi ...
, South Dakota; and
Whiteman Air Force Base Whiteman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located just south of Knob Noster, Missouri, United States. The base is the current home of the B-2 Spirit bomber. It is named for 2nd Lt George Whiteman, who was killed during the attack ...
, Missouri. In March 2019, Ellsworth was selected as the base to host the first operational B-21 unit and the first training unit.


Planned role in fleet

The B-21 is slated by 2040 to replace the U.S. Air Force's 63 B-1 strategic bombers, which date from the 1980s, and 20 B-2 strategic bombers, which date from the 1990s. The B-21 may also eventually replace the
B-52 The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
, which is slated to remain in service for many decades.Dan Lamothe
Pentagon reveals secretive B-21 bomber in California
''Washington Post'' (December 2, 2022): "The Pentagon intends for the Raider to replace aging B-2 Spirit and B-1B Lancer bombers, phasing out the older aircraft by the 2040s. B-52 bombers, many decades old, also could be replaced by the B-21 in coming years."


Potential related projects

In March 2022, Air Force Secretary
Frank Kendall III Frank Kendall III (born January 26, 1949) is an American engineer, lawyer and executive who is the 26th and current United States Secretary of the Air Force. He has served in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Defense. A West Po ...
raised the possibility of a bomber drone to work with the bomber, but the idea was later dropped because it would not save much money to produce such a large unmanned aircraft. The USAF is also planning to acquire a new long-range fighter from its
Next Generation Air Dominance The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) is a United States Air Force (USAF) sixth-generation air superiority initiative with a goal of fielding a "family of systems" that is to succeed the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. A manned fighter aircra ...
program, known as the F-X or "Penetrating Counter-Air", to escort the B-21 deep into enemy territory and help it survive enemy
air defenses Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
and intercepting fighters.


Specifications


See also


References


External links


Official B-21 Raider webpage
from Northrop Grumman
Official B-21 Raider fact sheet
from the U.S. Air Force {{Stealth aircraft
B-21 Raider The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American strategic bomber under development for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Northrop Grumman. As part of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program, it is to be a long-range, stealth interc ...
Proposed military aircraft of the United States Flying wings Stealth aircraft United States bomber aircraft Strategic bombers