Randall Walden, director of the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, said recently that the first B-21 Raider bomber is still being assembled and is expected to be officially unveiled in early 2022 and make its first flight as early as the middle of next year. The second B-21 bomber is in production at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, California facility, undergoing Air Force airframe inspections.
The B-21 bomber concept is shown here.
According to Defense World, in an interview with Air Force Magazine, Langewalden said the estimated schedule is often projected using the smoothest possible scenario, and that a first flight in mid-2022 seems to be a likely option. Although the first B-21 bomber has not yet been assembled, Langdon said it is already looking more and more like a bomber, saying “it looks great” and that he is “very pleased with the significant increase in production efficiency of the second B-21 bomber compared to the production status of the first one.
Defense Wolrld noted that the second B-21 bomber is currently undergoing Air Force review of the airframe, and Langwalden said, “The next issue for the second one actually has to do with more structure and overall constructability, and we will be testing the limits of airframe flexing to make sure all the design, fabrication and production lines are up to snuff.” In addition, Northrop Grumman is currently testing bomber avionics and related softwares through the commercial airliner to ensure that the relevant avionics and softwares are effectively tuned before being installed on the B-21 bomber.
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