B-21, B-2 Comparison Image Shows Just How Weird The Raider's Windows Really Are
It's really fascinating to see just how similar, and at the same time how different, the B-2 and B-21 are from one another. Nowhere is the latter more apparent than in each types' cockpit windows.
The image above, a version of which was posted on X by our friend @thenewarea51, really gives us a great comparison of the two aircraft from a similar angle and under similar lighting conditions. The scale is not exact as we still don't know the dimensions of the B-21, but it is overall a smaller aircraft than the B-2. You can read our complete analysis of the first aerial image of the B-21, as depicted in the comparison image, here.
The B-21's bizarre window arrangement puzzled the public when it was first unveiled in concept art posted by the Air Force in July of 2021. As you can see in the latest side-on images, the B-21's cockpit glazing is a total departure from the B-2's wraparound windscreen. The side visibility through the B-21's angled slit windows, which were clearly a heavy compromise between functionality and low-observability (stealth), especially from critical frontal, lower aspects, is arguably not what's most striking here. The forward viability is. The windscreen appears to offer a relatively narrow forward field of view, confined to directly ahead of the aircraft, and there has been a premium put on the vertical, not horizontal field of view. As we have stated since the B-21's rollout, this is likely to facilitate aerial refueling, which is an absolutely critical capability for the extremely long-range B-21. The limited window apertures truncating the view outside are also compounded by the fact that a dashboard will extend back quite a ways under the raked windscreens to where the pilots are actually seated.
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