While the U.S. Air Force has classified nearly all design details of the Northrop Grumman [NOC] B-21 Raider bomber, dozens of onlookers, including a free-lance photographer, were on hand for the stealth plane’s first flight on Nov. 10 over Palmdale, Calif., near the aircraft’s development and production site at Air Force Plant 42.
After the flight, the Air Force issued a statement that the “flight testing is a critical step in the test campaign managed by the Air Force Test Center and 412th Test Wings B-21 Combined Test Force” at Edwards AFB, Calif.
On Nov. 10, Joshua “JC” Christopher, a senior manager of programs at Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, wrote on LinkedIn, “Happy Veterans Day! How appropriate to mark the day with first flight of the B-21 Raider!”
The first flight of what is to be a prime U.S. deterrence tool came as President Biden prepares to meet Chinese President Li Xinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco this week. The meeting would be the Chinese leader’s first in the U.S. since 2017. Biden and Li Xinping last met at the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia last November.
Last month, the Air Force acknowledged that B-21 taxi tests had begun (Defense Daily, Oct. 26).
B-21 first flight is to be followed by an Air Force low-rate initial production contract for the bomber, Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden has said.
Six B-21s have been in final assembly at Air Force Plant 42.
Thomas Jones, the president of Northrop Grumman Aeronautic Systems, said in September that the company has often received questions on B-21 progress from company shareholders and that the company’s goal is making the transition to a “highly effective test program” to deliver the B-21 expeditiously, “not cutting corners for acquisition theatrics.”
The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies has argued that the Air Force needs to more than double its bomber fleet of 141 to 300, including 225 B-21s, to counter China, achieve nuclear deterrence, and prepare for two simultaneous conflicts. The Air Force has said that it will buy at least 100 B-21s.
Retired Air Force Col. Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 commander and the director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute, has said that DoD estimates that B-21 production will peak at 10 per year in the mid-2030s–half the rate Gunzinger said is needed and half that of the original plans for the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit.
In 2015, Northrop Grumman was awarded the Long Range Strike Bomber contract to develop the B-21, beating out a Lockheed Martin [LMT]-Boeing [BA] team. The Air Force has said that it plans to buy at least 100 B-21s.
The B-21, which DoD and Northrop Grumman rolled out last December, is to incorporate advances in low-observable maintenance to ensure the next generation bomber is ready to fly consistently when it reaches the field, the Air Force has said (Defense Daily, March 21).
The unit cost of the B-21 is to be $750 million while unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft that the bomber may launch to conduct strikes and other missions are to be less costly, but still possibly on the order of several hundred millions of dollars, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said.