B-21 Raider

The U.S. Air Force's next-generation penetrating long-range strike stealth bomber — nuclear and conventional capable, designed for highly contested environments, and set to replace the B-1B and B-2 fleets with a common, digitally engineered platform.

Overview

The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is a flying-wing stealth bomber developed for the U.S. Air Force as the backbone of its future penetrating strike force. It originated from the Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) competition and was designed from the outset to counter advanced integrated air defenses while carrying both nuclear and conventional payloads. The program is explicitly cost-controlled: the official Average Procurement Unit Cost is capped at $692 million in base-year 2022 dollars across a minimum planned fleet of 100 aircraft, according to the U.S. Air Force fact sheet. Intended to replace the B-1B Lancer and B-2A Spirit, the B-21 introduces open systems architecture, optional unmanned operation, and a digital-engineering pedigree that has kept its test campaign on schedule and budget.

Development

In October 2015, Northrop Grumman won the LRS-B Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract, defeating a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team, as documented in the U.S. Air Force fact sheet. The program passed Critical Design Review in 2018, and basing decisions soon designated Ellsworth AFB (South Dakota) as the first main operating base and formal training unit, with Whiteman AFB (Missouri) and Dyess AFB (Texas) to follow. The aircraft was publicly revealed on 2 December 2022, and its first flight took place on 10 November 2023 from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, to Edwards AFB, marking the start of a flight-test campaign that has been described as “basically on time, basically on budget” and is outperforming digital-model predictions, per Northrop Grumman. A second test aircraft, notably without the air-data probe of the first, joined the campaign on 11 September 2025, shifting the focus from flight-performance checks to mission-systems and armament integration, as reported by The War Zone. Low-rate initial production began in late 2023, and in February 2026 the Air Force signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman to expand annual production capacity by 25 percent, with the first operational aircraft expected on the ramp at Ellsworth in 2027, according to the U.S. Air Force announcement.

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