The Air Force’s new stealth nuclear bomber took its first test flight Friday, the next step in a process that will add to America’s nuclear triad.
The flying-wing-shaped B-21 Raider will be able to carry out strike missions and deliver conventional bombs and nuclear munitions. Friday’s flight was conducted at Palmdale, Calif., where the stealth bomber is being developed and tested by aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman.
“The B-21 Raider is in flight testing (which is) a critical step in the test campaign managed by the Air Force Test Center and the 412th Test Wing’s B-21 Combined Test Force to provide survivable, long-range, penetrating strike capabilities to deter aggression and strategic attacks against the United States, allies and partners,” Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said in a statement.
The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 B-21 Raider bombers, which will replace its fleet of B-1 and B-2 bombers. It will join the legendary B-52 Stratofortress bomber — which has been in continuous service since 1955 — as the air component of the nation’s nuclear triad, along with ballistic missile submarines and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, officials said.
The first B-21 Raider units will be at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, with other units planned for Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, officials said.
“The B-21 will provide our nation with a strategic asset capable of penetrating enemy air defenses in highly contested environments and striking targets anywhere in the world,” the Air Force said in a statement.
The B-21 Raider project is in the engineering and manufacturing development phase and is on track to deliver the first bombers to the Air Force in the mid-2020s, officials said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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