B-21 Raider: Next step, First flight!

The new B-21 Raider is getting ready for its first flight according to USAF Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch. The Lt Gen. said this before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. He also said that the program has met all of it's development milestones and is on schedule.

The Air Force's stealthy new bomber is getting ready to take its first flight.

link

(Rumor) Rumor has it that the first model is nearing completion. Once flight tests begin of the final iteration an unveiling will soon follow.(/Rumor)

So shes done system runs,Swing tests,engine startups and taxi,ground handling runs?

I would be stunned if they actually have even a preproduction model "near completion" five months out from CDR...

originally posted by: RadioRobert
I would be stunned if they actually have even a preproduction model "near completion" five months out from CDR...

I'm just guessing here, but maybe the CDR referred to the Program CDR and not necessarily the Aircraft CDR?

Looking forward to catching her flying.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Looking forward to catching her flying.

We should savor this one. It will probably be the last American, manned heavy bomber unveiling in our lifetimes. I bet there is at least one or two more American manned fighters after the F-35, but then I expect everything after that will be unmanned. My guess at least...

originally posted by: RadioRobert
I would be stunned if they actually have even a preproduction model "near completion" five months out from CDR...

Just more evidence that the program was always further along than they let on. I still think they basically had near prototype aircrafts flying during the competition, not just some cobbled up tech demos.

a reply to: intelgurl

I'll trust your "rumor" over most other folks facts.

Looking forward to seeing it.

a reply to: RadioRobert

www.popularmechanics.com...


New U.S. Secret Bomber Program Passes Critical Design Review

But it still has a long way to go, by Joe Pappalardo, Dec 6, 2018


The CDR report noted that the B-21’s “proposed funding and deployment schedule implied that considerable development had been accomplished prior to contract award. The Air Force later confirmed this, with senior program officials stating that both competing designs were at an unusually high level of detail and development for a system in which the prime contractor had not been selected.”

From Intelgurls link:

"We're still in our acquisition thresholds and baselines, and [the B-21] is executing the way we want. … We got past critical design review," Bunch said of the bomber, developed from a clean-sheet design.

In December, the program cleared the developmental milestone. Officials confirmed the Northrop Grumman-made B-21, named the Raider in honor of the World War II Doolittle Raiders, completed its critical design review. It passed its preliminary design review in 2017.

Cannot wait for the unveiling of this beauty, America will be proud

a reply to: Zaphod58

again?

Deleted

Looking forward to seeing this fly, also, love the fact that her home, is also my home state, South Dakota.

a reply to: Murcielago

Dyess is going to be the big winner in the basing lottery.

While slightly off-topic but paralleling in relative importance, I wonder if the US has a good idea on the timeline for the revealing of China's H-20. Analysts predicted this year, which we still have plenty of time for. I'd imagine the DoD's timeline for the B-21 is in direct response to China's recent rapid growth in innovation. Exciting but scary times we live in. Two superpowers riding a runaway debt train to maintain their strategic edge.

a reply to: Masisoar

i know form follows function but China is either great at advertising and creating a buzz or is so unselfaware that they practically ripped of the US superbowl commercial that it will be interesting to see the two aircraft side by side.

there have been so many rendering of china's aircraft its hard to know what's what with them.


to bad the US competitor won't be released. i have a good feeling it was much cooler inside and out. Granted more money and not all the tech was proven but still cool. might live on in another program or a limited run but i dont think we will get to see it.

Did anyone figure out what the Superbowl Add airframe was?

a reply to: Blackfinger

i was under the impression it was all but said it was of the B-21.

they could have done funny things with lens for the camera but it think it looks like the B21, or what it will look like.


the 180 is a little more b2ish and as far as i know not set for public release anytime soon, and as we recently found out the B21 will be coming into the public domain sooner than later.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Murcielago

Dyess is going to be the big winner in the basing lottery.

Do you think they will get the Lions share? or will it be equally distributed between them, Whiteman, and Ellsworth?

If they do indeed produce it in vast numbers I could also see a heavier presence in Guam or Hickam