B-21 to Fly in '21

[MIflyer]

From Air Force Magazine:

The new B-21 Raider stealth bomber is making good progress and should fly in December 2021, USAF Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen "Seve" Wilson said July 24.
Wilson, speaking at an AFA Mitchell Institute event in Washington, D.C., said the service continues to analyze its capacity for long-range strike. The Air Force still believes it is short, and is reviewing alternative force mixes.
Speaking on deterrence and the need to modernize the nuclear command, control and communications network, Wilson said he was at Northrop Grumman's facilities in Melbourne, Fla. in the last few weeks, "looking at the B-21," and said the company is "moving out on that pretty fast." Wilson said he has an application on his phone "counting down the days … and don't hold me to it, but it's something like 863 days to first flight."
That would put the first flight of the B-21 in December 2021. The Air Force has said from the beginning that the first B-21 would be a "useable asset" but has also said it doesn't expect an initial operating capability with the B-21 before the "mid 2020s."

 

[at6]

Still looks like a B-2.

 

[Zipper730]

It seems better to call it the "B-3", there's a B-1, and B-2, and 2+1 = 3

 

[MIflyer]

Word is, it's got a CD player instead of a cassette deck.

Yes, I'm wondering what happened to the B-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20....

 

[Zipper730]

Word is, it's got a CD player instead of a cassette deck.

I'd have pushed for DVD-A, but I got iTunes

 

[MIflyer]

By the way, they are also pulling more B-52's out of the boneyard.

 

[Peter Gunn]

By the way, they are also pulling more B-52's out of the boneyard.

Seriously? Are they going to hold an antique sale or something?

 

[MIflyer]

Nope, putting them back in service. I was surprised to see they do not seem to be flying them to TAFB to have OC-ALC overhaul them.

 

[GrauGeist]

Too bad they never went through with the (Y)B-70...

 

[Gnomey]

True, still it's pretty cool.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I've been watching the timeline on this and it seems NG is making pretty good progress.

I'm wondering how much commonality this aircraft will have with the B-2? I'm assuming that the B-2 tooling was not destroyed at the end of that contract so this would be an easy build if the B-21's airframe is based off the B-2.

Waiting to see how the press treats this one.

 

[MIflyer]

And it's being built in Melbourne? 20 miles from where I live?

I guess when it's no longer a secret that you are building a stealth flying wing bombers you don't have to do in some secret desert facility. The Melbourne plant is where JSTARS was built and where the Airbus alternative to the Boeing KC-46 would have been built.

 

[Johnny Curedents]

Looking at the drawing, I would bet they've made a slight error in the write ups on this plane. I think it must be a B-2.1

 

[MIflyer]

Believe it or not, the first flight of the B-2 was 30 years ago. Attached is a Air Force magazine chart celebrating the anniversary.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

And it's being built in Melbourne? 20 miles from where I live?

I guess when it's no longer a secret that you are building a stealth flying wing bombers you don't have to do in some secret desert facility. The Melbourne plant is where JSTARS was built and where the Airbus alternative to the Boeing KC-46 would have been built.

The F-117A final assembly was at such a facility (Area 51), but the assembly of the primary airframe components were done in Burbank, almost in plain site. The B-2's assembly facilities (Plant 42) became well known after the first 2 aircraft were built. There was a time you were able to see B-2s sitting on the Plant 42 flight line. I worked on the B-2 for 6 months

 

[FLYBOYJ]

And it's being built in Melbourne? 20 miles from where I live?

Not too sure about that. I was in Palmdale about 3 weeks ago, they are putting up another hangar next to the old B-2 final assembly hangar. Rumor has it its for the B-21,

 

[GrauGeist]

Ok, so I'm going to guess this isn't the B-21 they're talking about...

 

[Snautzer01]

I did not know the B-21 is not only invisiable to radar but also a shape shifter. Cool bit of gear then.

 

[ODonovan]

Yes, I'm wondering what happened to the B-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20....

Probably the same thing that happened to Preparation A through G.

By the way, they are also pulling more B-52's out of the boneyard.

Seriously? Are they going to hold an antique sale or something?

I would imagine they're going to hang a sh*t ton of long range air to air missiles on each one, then have them play tag with the F-35s. The Lightnings get behind enemy lines and designate targets from behind, then the BUFFs toss the boom sticks at them. Oh Russia...remember how your "stealth fighter" isn't very stealthy from behind? Sorry about your damned luck.



-Irish

 

[MIflyer]

Well, we know what happened with WD-1 through WD-39.

I found it hilarious that the Russians came out with WD-80.

In Desert Storm they were planning to hang a whole bunch of smartbombs on B-52's and then have F-111F's do the target designating with their lasers.

Then there was that idea of equipping C-5A's with a a hundred or more AIM-47's and have them fire broadsides at enemy aircraft. Then they realized it would cause too much confusion if they had two aircraft named F-5A.