WC Missouri News

Department of the Air Force leaders and industry partners provided updates on the B-21 Raider, the Air Force’s newest bomber, during a panel at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference on September 18.

The B-21 will incrementally replace the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers to become the backbone of the Air Force’s flexible global strike capability. The airframe is a long-range, highly survivable stealth bomber capable of delivering a mix of conventional and nuclear munitions and will be the “air leg” of the nuclear triad, critical to deterring conflict.

Panelists who provided updates included Gen. Thomas Bussiere, Air Force Global Strike Command commander; Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, Eighth Air Force and Joint-Global Strike Operations Center commander; William Bailey, Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director; and Thomas Jones, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems sector president.

Bailey and Jones provided updates about how the B-21 program is progressing.

“We’re really starting to strike up quite a cadence [and] generate two flight test flights in a given week,” Jones said. “When we started this journey, we made a vow that we were going to design this system to be a daily flyer. It’s been a phenomenal year of progress, and we hope to continue that through the next year.”

The panelists also described a significant milestone in which the B-21 completed its static test on the G-1 asset, a ground-based test article used to evaluate the structural integrity of the aircraft. This test was essential to “confirming the structural design of the aircraft is sound and validated confidence in the digital models,” Bailey said.

The aircraft is now going through a fatigue testing campaign.

Armagost discussed how the B-21 program is preparing for delivery of the aircraft to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, including laying foundations for AFGSC squadrons to be sufficiently equipped, trained, and certified for aircraft delivery. Bailey spoke about teamwork essential to program development.

“We’re very clear as a team what the priorities are day after day,” Bailey said. “That collaboration between operators and acquirers has been a key component of this success … that has got to be a consideration [in Great Power Competition].”

Bussiere addressed current strategic threats posed by adversaries and future capabilities that B-21 will provide to keep pace with those threats.

“We are the free world’s only bomber force. We’re probably not going to see a decreased demand signal from our regional combatant commands on bomber task forces,” he added. “That demand signal, in my opinion, is only going to go up in years ahead. As we transition from legacy to new, the B-21 fleet will provide great comfort to our allies and should provide great pause to any potential adversary.”

He further stated: “Nobody on planet can do what we’re doing right now. Nobody on planet can build an exquisite, technologically advanced platform like B-21; quite frankly nobody on planet can hold at risk what we can hold at risk at time/place of our choosing.”

Bailey echoed comments about adaptability of systems designed with flexibility in mind.

“Agility/flexibility — they can’t just be buzzwords... These are kind things you need demonstrate over time... Because it’s going change on you... We've had benefit employing lot strategies on this program,” he concluded.

The program has production goal minimum 100 aircrafts.

When enters service Ellsworth AFB South Dakota first main operating base location formal training unit recently announced second/third basing locations Whiteman AFB Missouri Dyess AFB Texas order.

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