Air Force's Secret Bomber Program Quietly Flies Forward
8/21/2024
By Laura Heckmann
The fanfare around the Air Force’s sixth-generation stealth bomber has quieted since its December 2022 unveiling — and while the program remains highly secretive — the service says it is on track and blazing trails. It just needs more money, experts say.
The program the service is calling the “backbone of the future Air Force bomber force” began in 2011 as the classified Long Range Strike Bomber, emerging from the shadows in 2015 when the Defense Department announced its intent to award a contract to Northrop Grumman.
The program, a follow-on to the canceled Next-Generation Bomber program, was eventually christened the B-21 Raider in honor of the Doolittle Raiders of World War II, and construction began on the first aircraft in summer 2019.
Design features began to trickle out in January 2020 and construction began on the second aircraft in 2021 as the first neared completion. The first test aircraft was formally introduced during a dramatic ceremony at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, in December 2022.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2024/8/21/air-forces-secret-bomber-program-quietly-flies-forward
