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The United States Air Force unveiled the B-21 Raider, a high-tech stealth bomber that can carry nuclear and conventional weapons and is designed to be able to fly without a crew on board. The fleet is estimated to cost $203 billion to develop, buy and operate over 30 years, according to Bloomberg, with the US planning to acquire at least 100 of the aircraft.
Much of the features of the warplane are shrouded in mystery, with reports suggesting that it has the potential for an uncrewed flight. A US Air Force spokeswoman said the aircraft was "provisioned for the possibility, but there has been no decision to fly without a crew".
The first flight by a B-21 is expected to take place next year.
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World's first sixth-generation steatlh warplane
The US Air Force unveiled its world's first sixth-generation nuclear stealth bomber plain, the B-21 Raider. It has a 9,600-kilometre range and roughly 10-ton payload, though, as expected, further specific details have not been revealed.
The ceremony took place at manufacturer Northrop Grumman's facility in Palmdale, California.
(Photograph:Reuters)
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First flight expected to take place next year
The B-21 Raider has been known to be developed as a subsonic aircraft and not meant for the tight maneuvers of a fighter. At the unveiling ceremony, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said it was "a testament to America's enduring advantages in ingenuity and innovation".
The first flight by a B-21 is expected to take place next year.
The US Air Force is planning to acquire at least 100 of the aircraft.
(Photograph:AFP)
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Can easily slip enemy's radar
The B-21 features stealth technology, which minimises an aircraft's signature through both its shape and the materials it is constructed from, making it harder for adversaries to detect.
The plane is also built with an "open system architecture," which allows for the incorporation of "new weapons that haven't even been invented yet," Austin said.
(Photograph:AFP)
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Pentagon aims to check China's rapid militray advance with B-21
The B-21 will eventually replace the B-1 and B-2 models and the fleet is estimated to cost $203 billion to develop, buy and operate over 30 years, according to Bloomberg.
With B-21, Pentagon aims to modernise all three parts of its nuclear triad, including silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it shifts from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to meet China’s rapid military modernization, reports AP news agency
(Photograph:AFP)
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(Courtesy: Northrop Grumman) US aims to keep China on its toes
US has been keen on neutralising China's reach in major US bases. Beijing has DF-16, DF-17, DF-21, DF-21D, and DF-26 missiles, which have the capability to strike any US base in the Pacific.
The B-21 Raider has been designed to participate in the full scale war, along with the B-2 Spirit, B-1 Lancer, and B-52s.
In a statement given to Air and Space Forces Magazine, Northrop Grumman said that the Raider “has been designed as the lead component of a larger family of systems that will deliver intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic attack and multi-domain networking capabilities.”