The US Air Force released two new images of the B-21 Raider during the 2023 Air and Space Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado on Tuesday.
General Thomas A. Speaking at the symposium, Bussier, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, highlighted what it takes to defeat the threats facing the United States.
One such aspect was a bomber fleet including the B-21 Raider, described as a bomber that adapts to future threats and has both nuclear and conventional capabilities.
Bussier called the B-21 the “future backbone of the bomber fleet,” adding that the military branch will have at least 100 Raiders.
In the long-term plan, the Air Force plans to acquire 220 or more bombers.
The B-21 is “on track to deliver operational aircraft to its first primary operating base in the mid-2020s,” the general said.
The United States Air Force declared in a press release that the plane was designed with an open architecture that allows the rapid insertion of mature technologies.
It was also designed for support, maintenance, and sustainability.
“The integrated technologies and open architecture system will provide any potential capability to advance, modernize and maintain that weapons system in the face of threat in the future,” Bussier said.
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) March 7, 2023
The B-21 Raider is America’s first new bomber aircraft in more than three decades, and nearly every aspect of the program has been classified.
When the bomber was first unveiled in December, manufacturer Northrop Grumman said the launch of the all-new stealth nuclear bomber marked the first time the public would see the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft.
“Once delivered to the Air Force, the B-21 will join the nation’s strategic triad as a visible and flexible deterrent; uphold national security goals, and protect the nation’s allies and partners,” the company said in a statement.
The nuclear triad includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched nuclear warheads.
The cost of the bombers is still unknown, although they were expected to be around $550 million each in 2010 dollars or about $750 million in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars, and the Raider won’t make its maiden flight until next year.
