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She’s nicknamed “Spartan.”
The second B-21 Raider stealth bomber fittingly flew on Sept. 11, from its factory in the high desert of Palmdale, California, to adjacent Edwards Air Force Base.
The B-21 Raider is the most sophisticated bomber in the world, and America’s first “sixth-generation” stealth warplane. Two more sixth-gen planes, the Air Force’s F-47 fighter, and a secret carrier-based fighter for the Navy, are also in the works. However, with the flight of Spartan coming on top of continued flight tests of the first B-21 “Cerberus,” the Air Force bomber is making astonishing progress.
Nicknames from the men and women of the production line and flight test teams tell you how special these mammoth bombers are. Infused with AI, and revolutionary aerodynamics, they are almost like sentient beings.
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“With the arrival of the second B-21 Raider, our flight test campaign gains substantial momentum,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in a massive understatement.
The B-21 Raider is the replacement for the fleet of just 19 B-2 Spirit stealth bombers that blew up Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
Within the enormous, drab beige hangar of Plant 42 in Palmdale there are at least five and maybe as many as 10 more B-21s in various stages of final assembly on the production line. Components like the Pratt and Whitney high-bypass turbofan engines come from aerospace suppliers all over the country.
Thanks to Spartan, also known as Tail 2, you can see a lot more about how the B-21 Raider will function. First, she’s grey, several shades lighter than the all-black B-2. The B-21 is curved and shaped of carbon graphite composite materials, not sheet metal. Notice the B-21 has no tail or tube-like fuselage. The B-21 is a pure flying wing, with engines nestled inside along with the fuel tanks and bomb bay.
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The design is highly efficient for long-range flight, at altitudes of perhaps 50,000 feet. Control in flight is achieved with software making continuous, tiny inputs to the pitch and trim of the B-21. You can spot the sets of four identical sensors under the pointy nose of the B-21 that feed quad-redundant flight control system.
Worried about Chinese spies with radar detectors watching these B-21 flights? Don’t. Stealth aircraft often strap on a Luneberg lens passive radar reflector to brighten up radar return – and thus hide the B-21’s true characteristics. In combat stealth mode, even the navigation lights retract.
Next up for the B-21: weapons and mission systems tests, Meink said. The B-21 will continue signature verification, check out its onboard radars and electronic warfare systems, and prepare for weapons release tests. Expect to see photos soon of the B-21 flying around with bomb bay doors open. At some point, they’ll test out the cockpit’s small heat ring for hot dogs or soup, and the five-gallon chemical toilet. All the “comforts” crews expect in a stealth bomber when flying 48-hour missions.
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More B-21s can’t come soon enough. America is running short on stealth bombers. With just 19 B-2s left, the need for a big operational fleet of B-21 Raiders is intense.
Operation Midnight Hammer threw seven B-2s at Iran for just one strike. Do the math. For a credible deterrent strategy against Russia, China, North Korea and who knows what else, America needs enough B-21s to repeat strikes in multiple locations.
Don’t forget the B-21 will fulfill two roles: nuclear deterrence in the Triad, plus global, conventional strikes, against targets ranging from bad guy nuclear sites to mobile missiles and enemy ships. As the strike on Iran showed, stealth bombers are the only tools for the job when it comes to massive ordnance strikes.
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With Tail 2 up and flying, the smart move for President Donald Trump would be to open a second B-21 production line to take advantage of the thriving line and capacity in the aerospace industrial base.
When Northrop Grumman won the B-21 contract in 2015, the penny-pinching Obama Pentagon planned to buy the B-21 at the leisurely rate of four or five per year for 20 years to procure a fleet of 100. That was before China’s nuclear acceleration, the Russia-China alliance, Putin’s nuclear posturing, and North Korea’s progress with solid-fueled nuclear missiles.
The B-21 has been a roaring success in terms of production. Because it has experienced so few problems, the B-21 has shocked Washington, D.C., by coming in 28% under budget across the five-year defense plan, according to an Aviation Week report. I know of no other major program running so efficiently.
The B-21 Raider keeps the U.S. Air Force miles ahead of rivals. Russia flew its Tu-22M3 bombers during the Zapad military exercises last week. Vladimir Putin’s bombers have been upgraded but they are far from stealthy. The Chinese H-6K bombers that pester Guam are still of the old jetliner design, carrying long-range conventional or nuclear missiles – under the wings, where their radar signature glares. China can’t sweep the Pacific while the B-21 is on guard.
Count on Spartan, Cerberus and the new fleet of B-21 Raider bombers to maintain America’s deterrent advantage for decades to come.
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