The nuclear-capable B-21 Raider is predicted to switch a number of older jets within the coming years
The US Air Power has performed the primary check flight of a brand new long-range stealth bomber, one among six operational prototypes set to be produced by American arms large Northrop Grumman.
Dubbed the B-21 Raider, the jet was noticed within the skies over Northrop’s Palmdale, California analysis facility on Friday afternoon, with footage of the fly-over captured by aviation photographer Matt Hartman.
The Air Power later confirmed the flight, calling the trial “a essential first step within the check marketing campaign managed by the Air Power Check Middle and 412th Check Wing’s B-21 Mixed Check Power.” The brand new plane will “present survivable, long-range penetrating strike capabilities to discourage aggression and strategic assaults towards america, allies, and companions,” Air Power spokesperson Ann Stefanek added.
A part of the Pentagon’s Lengthy Vary Strike Bomber program launched in 2011, the B-21 is predicted to enter service someday in 2027, in keeping with Lt. Gen. James C. Dawkins, deputy chief of employees for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration. Officers hope the jet will substitute a number of getting old bombers over the approaching a long time, together with the B-1 Lancer, the B-52 Stratofortress and the B-2 Spirit.
Northrop Grumman, which additionally designed the B-2, acknowledged Friday’s check flight in a press release, saying it might “validate our digital fashions” and marks “one other step nearer to reaching operational functionality.”
Throughout a Home committee listening to final yr, the Pentagon’s then-deputy chief of employees for plans and applications, Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, mentioned the army may search to accumulate as much as 145 B-21s as soon as this system is full.
The brand new stealth jet has confronted setbacks over the course of its improvement, with the Air Power suspending its maiden flight final yr for unspecified causes, citing the necessity to defend “delicate program info from adversary exploitation.”
Supply hyperlink
