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PALMDALE, Calif. – The Pentagon and defense contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled the U.S. military’s bomber of the future on Friday, showcasing an aircraft shrouded in secrecy for years that will serve as the backbone of the U.S.’s combat operations. Air Force for decades to come.
The distinctive bat-shaped B-21 Raider lifted forward from a hangar here as it was bathed in blue light as cinematic music played and Northrop Grumman employees applauded. The ceremony was held at the company’s facilities at Air Force Base 42, a heavily guarded government-owned manufacturing facility. north of Los Angeles, home to some of the military’s most classified works.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking outside the hangar, said the aircraft is evidence of the Defense Department’s long-term commitment to building advanced capabilities that will “strengthen America’s ability to deter aggression, today and in the future”. The stealthy plane, he said, has “50 years of advances in low-observation technology” built in, making it difficult for “even the most sophisticated air defense systems” to detect a B-21 in the sky.
“The B-21 looks imposing,” Austin said. “But what lies beneath the space-age frame and coatings is even more impressive.”
Austin added that American defense is rooted in deterrence, and the development of the B-21 once again serves as a symbol.
“We are making clear to any potential adversary: the risks and costs of aggression far outweigh any conceivable gains,” Austin said.
The program is expected to cost at least $80 billion, and the Air Force is seeking at least 100 aircraft. It marks the first US military aircraft with so-called sixth-generation technology, which relies on advanced artificial intelligence, computer networks and data fusion to help pilots carry out long-range bombing missions range that require them to enter and exit enemy airspace. The Air Force is also exploring whether the B-21 could be flown remotely, though that would likely be years after it takes its first flight.
Much of the program remains classified, even as senior US defense officials and company executives celebrated its progress. Media attending the event here in Palmdale had to follow a number of ground rules, including a ban on cell phones in the viewing area and, for visual journalists, restrictions on how they could photograph the airplane
There are six prototypes of the B-21, company officials said. A first test flight is expected next year.
For now, the Raider is in a “ground test” phase, with Air Force and Northrop Grumman officials conducting stress tests, evaluating the application of its radar-deflecting paint and examining basic functions such as rolling , Northrop Grumman officials said.
More than 8,000 people are working on aspects of the program, with aircraft parts coming from 40 states.
The Pentagon intends for the Raider to replace the aging B-2 Spirit and B-1B Lancer bombers, phasing out the older aircraft in the 2040s. The decades-old B-52 bombers could also be replaced by the B -21 in the coming years. The unveiling event on Friday included flyovers of the three aging bombers.
Until 2006, the Defense Department believed it could get by with its existing fleet of bombers until 2037. But the Pentagon began investigating alternatives over the next decade, launching a contract competition for a new long-range bomber in 2014
The U.S. military has for years faced costly problems and delays in the development of other major weapons systems, including the advanced F-35 fighter that is likely to accompany the B-21 in future operations
Air Force and company officials said at a roundtable with reporters Friday that the program continues to meet service requirements for cost, even as the cost per copy has continued to rise. In 2010, the service said it expected each plane to cost about $550 million. By 2019, the price had risen to $639 million, according to a Congressional Research Service report released last year, and the cost is expected to continue rising.
Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, Air Force chief of staff, told reporters in Palmdale that the development of the B-21 has been a product of collaboration between the service and Northrop Grumman. He noted that the plane’s Raider nickname is a tribute to the Doolittle Raiders, American service members who launched a long and daring bombing raid on Japan in April 1942, just months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii drew the United States into the World War. II.
“That innovative spirit is behind us right now,” Brown said, speaking in the hangar before the unveiling event as the B-21 sat under a cloak.
Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman, said Friday that the company iterated through thousands of versions of the plane before selecting a design. Some of its testing and development happens digitally before the company builds hardware, keeping costs down.
“In many ways,” Warden said, “we’re taking the technology of the future and bringing it here and now in this airplane.”