After years of secret development and as an answer to rising concerns over a future conflict , the new stealth bomber and backbone of future American aviation – the B-21 Raider – was presented in Palmdale, California, on December 2.
The aircraft with 9,600 km range and 10 tons of payload is America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber in more than 30 years that has been designed for deep penetration.
The Ceremony started with a flyover of the three bombers — 'the B-52 Stratofortress', 'the B-1 Lancer' and 'the B-2 Spirit'. The hangar doors slowly opened and the B-21 was towed partially out of the building.
“This isn’t just another airplane,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “It’s the embodiment of America’s determination to defend the republic that we all love.”
Nuclear triad modernization at core, the B-21 can be treated as Pentagon’s answer to China’s rapid military modernization, a policy away from its decade long counter-terrorism operations .
The Bomber is designed with thin air intakes and is not expected to have high maneuverability. Seen in the unveling , the B-21 was in white, which may be a new technology from Northrup Grumman to protect the radar coating, which wears off faster during its active service.
While the Raider may resemble the B-2, once you get inside, the similarities stop, said Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp.
“The way it operates internally is extremely advanced compared to the B-2, because the technology has evolved so much in terms of the computing capability that we can now embed in the software of the B-21,” Warden added.
The thinktank and Pentagon are aware that — Beijing is capable of waging war to challenge the technology of U.S.A , and to the answer that , the new B-21 Raider should appear on the scene , along with the B-52s , B-1 Lancer , and B-2 Spirit . Is this a paradigm shift in favour of America ?
This is just the very begining , and within a couple of years, we will witness modifications to the bomber, before 150-200 units of B-21 get the green signal for the production. As of now , Six of the prototypes , which is to have its first flight in mid-2023, are in various stages of assembly.
The US Air Force has plans to buy at least 100 of the B-21 aircraft for now , which comes with an approx. $700m price tag per plane. This almost certainly means decades of production as well as financiers. Some experts believe, about 210 billion USD will need to be allocated to develop and produce at least 100 units of the Raider.
The B-21 is built for deep penetration while covering the needs of the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [ISR] domain for bombing and electronic attacks. According to preliminary expectations, the B-21 should avoid radars of adversaries , then drop its payload as a precision target.
Moscow and Beijing are not behind to develop their strategic stealth bombers – China’s Xian H-20 and Russia’s nuclear-capable Tupolev PAK DA are expected to compete with the B-21.
While the B-21 is capable of taking to the air without a pilot , the US Air Force said the aircraft is “provisioned for the possibility, but there has been no decision to fly without a crew”.
American experts described it as a sixth-generation aircraft , but Northrup Grumman has to prove it at many occasions. Russia, adversaries of U.S.A. , and international experts have their concerns about the capabilities of the bomber.
A sixth-generation aircraft must command full information control in the air. Acquisition and processing of collected information, followed by autonomous sharing with compatible technologies, to both US military and allied forces in a formation.
The Generation-5 and Generation-6 aircraft should have distinct features , the roles of ISR and Electronic Warfare dedicated to a strategic stealth bomber should be adequately defined and formulated, if we see the existance of a sixth generation aircraft late in the decade.
Sixth-generation aircraft should preferably have an artificial intelligence in the control of the aircraft . Advanced turbine engines for optimal energy usage , reconfiguration and self repair capabilities of the airframes , powerful radars and ranges and directed energy weapons are many other features , that a Sixth generation aircraft deserves.
As we mentioned before , B-21 Raider will be put under immense criticism before the claim of Northrup Grumman actually shuts the Russians and Chinese, those believe the B-21 Raider unveiled as a sixth-generation aircraft — is purely for marketing and publicity stunt.
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