Quote:The U.S. military unveiled the U.S. Air Force B-21 Raider on Friday in Palmdale, California.

The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than three decades, and almost every aspect of the program is classified, with images showing that it resembles the B-2 Spirit.

Manufacturer Northrop Grumman said that the rollout of the newest nuclear stealth bomber marks the first time the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft would be seen by the public.

"When delivered to the Air Force, the B-21 will join the nation’s strategic triad as a visible and flexible deterrent; supporting national security objectives and assuring the nation’s allies and partners," the company said in a release.

The nuclear triad includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads.

Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden told The Associated Press that the way the B-21 operates is extremely advanced.

The company said it is optimized for the high-end threat environment, using agile software development, advanced manufacturing techniques, digital engineering tools and cloud technology.

Northrop Grumman said it is continuously working to ensure that the B-21 "will defeat the anti-access, area-denial systems it will face."

Warden could not discuss the specifics of those technologies but said that the bomber was more stealthy and slightly smaller than the B-2.

"When we talk about low observability, it is incredibly low-observability," she said. "You’ll hear it, but you really won’t see it."

Other changes likely include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, new ways to control electronic emissions and the use of new propulsion technologies, according to several defense analysts.

While six of the B-21 Raiders are currently in production, the Air Force plans to build 100 that can be used with or without a human crew.

The cost of the bombers remains unknown — although it was projected to be approximately $550 million each in 2010 dollars, or about $750 million in today's inflation-adjusted dollars — and the Raider will not make its first flight until next year.

The company has been testing its performance using a virtual replica.

Since the contract was awarded in 2015, Northrop Grumman has assembled a team of more than 8,000 from the company, industry partners and the Air Force, consisting of more than 400 suppliers across 40 states.

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General Milley immediately sent China the plane's designs and Austin canceled the budget for production, reallocating the money for more equity and inclusiveness training. Biden* then called Russia, China, and Iran and assured them the plane would never be used, period.

The first 20 of them will be flown to afghanistan and left for the taliban.

Will be interesting to see if they can bring them in at $750M apiece. I’m guessing they can if the AF actually orders 100, but 40 - 60 planes in the AF will cancel he rest of the orders and the whole cost of the program will get smeared across fewer airframes.

The company said it is optimized for the high-end threat environment, using agile software development, advanced manufacturing techniques, digital engineering tools and cloud technology.

I have a hard time believing a government contract for the military utilized agile anything. I'm sure they are still using 1990's era project management and lifecycle procedures.

(12-04-2022 01:17 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  The company said it is optimized for the high-end threat environment, using agile software development, advanced manufacturing techniques, digital engineering tools and cloud technology.

I have a hard time believing a government contract for the military utilized agile anything. I'm sure they are still using 1990's era project management and lifecycle procedures.

I worked for a gov't contractor who did that 15 years ago... it is used quite often in today's federal government.