TYLER ROGOWAY
Detailed information on the B-21 Raider is still scarce to say the least, but for over a year and a half we have had a rendering supposedly depicting the multi-role strategic stealth platform's basic shape and features. Recently, other simple planform renderings have trickled out from the marketing department of the stealth bomber's manufacturer, Northrop Grumman. Although there can be no doubt that the aircraft will feature a whole slew of cutting edge technologies, will be constructed using the latest manufacturing techniques, and will be covered in the most advanced radar absorbent coatings, the general configuration of the aircraft doesn't seem to be new at all, in fact it appears to date back over three decades to the dawn of the stealth bomber revolution.At first glance the B-21 looks very much like the Northrop's B-2 Spirit, and that's for good reason. It seems that the Northrop team got the B-2's design amazingly right over thirty years ago, and they would have gotten it even closer to the B-21's design if the USAF hadn't thrown the demand for low-altitude penetration capability onto the program—then called the Advanced Technology Bomber—when it was so far along in its design process. The call to add low-level flying capability came out of fears that Russia would field increasingly more advanced radars that would neutralize the B-2's low observable attributes. As such, being able to sneak in below radar via flying nap of the earth flight profiles like its B-52 and B-1 brethren became a requirement for what was a high-flying strategic bomber that relied primarily on its stealthy design and careful mission planning for survival.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/14919/the-b-21s-three-decade-old-shape-hints-at-new-high-altitude-capabilities
