Free Republic

During Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown's speech at this year's Air & Space Forces Association's mega conference outside of Washington, D.C., the soon-to-be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs dropped two new images of the B-21 Raider. While the stealth bomber was rolled out in December of last year, it remains cloaked in secrecy. Brown, the top Air Force uniformed officer, didn't specifically reference the images in his presentation. Up until today, only one angle of the full aircraft has been seen by the public — head-on — and in a very controlled environment at the bomber's unveiling....

“Taken together – 120 combat-coded bombers, 20 trainers, and 24 planes for backup and attrition planning purposes – the minimum buy would be 164 aircraft." Why 100 Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider Stealth Bombers Might Not Be Enough Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider stealth bomber is rapidly approaching its critical design review (CDR), when a Pentagon review team will determine if the new aircraft is meeting the technical requirements set forth in its requirements documents. If the design passes its CDR, the B-21 team will be cleared to build, integrate and test the aircraft before its next hurdle: the production readiness review....