The B-21 Raider, America’s latest nuclear-capable stealth bomber, has been described with an air of mystique, often compared to the designs we would attribute to extraterrestrial technology.

Unveiled to the public in December 2022 at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale site in California, the Raider is touted as the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft, representing over three decades of stealth technology advances.

Its development signifies a new chapter in the United States’s long-standing air power legacy, with its first pre-production model “powered on” as of July 2023.

The B-21 is crafted to penetrate the toughest defenses, enabling precision strikes anywhere on the globe with its long range and high survivability.

One of its most striking features is its open systems architecture, designed for rapid technological upgrades without the need for block upgrades, ensuring the B-21 can seamlessly confront evolving threats for decades.

Despite its futuristic appearance, the Raider is grounded in practicality, built with a focus on maintainability equal to its stealth capabilities, aiming for affordable and predictable operations.

While specifics of its performance—speed, range, altitude, and payload—remain under wraps, the Raider is described by the U.S. Air Force as a “highly survivable, penetrating strike stealth bomber,” hinting at its formidable capabilities.

Now we have our first quartering view of the flying-wing jet, which provides significant details about its design. A new head-on image also gives us a better idea of the bomber’s actual size. Both images were taken at Northrop Grumman’s facility at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.

It sports a duckbill-like extension and bizarrely angled cockpit windows, suggesting a highly limited field of view, optimized for stealth rather than pilot visibility.

We are also getting our first look at the B-21’s flight control surfaces. They are made up of three flapperons on the outboard side of the wing, and one on the inboard side. This differs from the B-2, with its more complex sawtooth trailing edge planform that features two flapperons inboard and outboard, and a variable geometry ‘beaver tail’ in the center of its trailing edge.

The B-21 is expected to join the U.S. Air Force’s strategic triad, currently comprised of the B-52 Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer, and B-2 Spirit. The B-52, having been in service since 1955, will continue to fly alongside the Raider for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the B-21 is slated to replace the B-1B and B-2 bombers, revitalizing the fleet with at least 100 new aircraft.

The B-21 has a simpler ‘W’ trailing edge, very similar to how the B-2 was supposed to look before its low-altitude penetration mission was added to its requirements.

The B-21’s operational bases will be spread across the nation, with Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota as the first operating base and training location for pilots. Whiteman in Missouri and Dyess in Texas are also set to field the bomber, ensuring a strategic spread of this new centerpiece of American air power.

The B-21 is a digital bomber. Northrop Grumman uses agile software development, advanced manufacturing techniques and digital engineering tools to help mitigate production risk on the B-21 program and enable modern sustainment practices. Six B-21 Raiders are in various stages of final assembly and test at Northrop Grumman’s plant in Palmdale, California.

As per officials involved with the program, the Raider is on track to be completed and delivered as scheduled, even if for the civilian world it’s unclear when that will be – the military says something about mid-2020s operational readiness.

Relevant articles:
– Flying B-21 Raider Nuclear Bomber Makes It Look Like Aliens Have Arrived, autoevolution
– 10 Facts About Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider, northropgrumman.com
– The B-2 Bomber Looks Positively Alien In These Images, The War Zone
– B-21 Raider Seen Like Never Before In New Images, The War Zone