The B-21 bomber went into production just 2 months after its first flight

January 25 2024 20

The Pentagon announced that after another successful test flight it has signed a contract for the production of the latest stealth and low-cost bomber, the B-21 Raider, with Northrop Grumman, writes The Drive. Thus, the aircraft went into mass production just 2 months after the first flight in November 2023.

The publication notes that the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Supply, Dr. William A. LaPlante Jr., provided some information about this.

Last fall, based on the results of ground and flight tests, as well as the mature plans of the production team, I gave the green light to begin production of the B-21 at a low rate.

- he specified.

At the same time, the deputy head of the US Department of Defense did not disclose the exact date of conclusion (signing) of the agreed contract with Northrop Grumman, its cost and how many B-21 Raiders it covers.

Despite the insistence of the media, the Pentagon categorically refused to disclose the information mentioned. The publication noted that the B-21 Raider that made test flights is the first of six pre-production copies.

While the first one is flying, five more are being built. One of them is expected to be a ground-test airframe, but some of the five should eventually become operational bombers, according to plans developed by the US Air Force and Northrop Grumman

- stated in the material.

At the same time, LaPlante made it clear that even the first copies of the B-21 Raider are basically production aircraft, and not prototypes in the traditional sense. The goal of the program was precisely to speed up the development and testing of the aircraft, as well as reduce costs.

One of the key attributes of this program was to plan production from the outset and at scale to ensure credible deterrence against adversaries.

LaPlante said.

Like the Pentagon, Northrop Grumman declined to say when the contract was awarded, for how much, for how many aircraft or how many units are under construction under the original production contract. The bomber is expected to enter service in the mid-2020s, and they want to produce at least 100 units, the publication concluded.

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strange guest

+5

25 January 2024 17: 12

A very good series - 100 pieces - for a strategic bomber.
In Russia, the Tu-160 is three times smaller.
1. Vladimir Tuzakov
  
  +1
  
  25 January 2024 17: 53
  
  This strategist (load of 9,1 tons) is only one and a half times greater than the tactical Su-34, and at subsonic speeds (0,8 M), therefore it cannot be called a strategist. As with piloting, or they are building an unmanned one right away. The United States is in search, because the large, overly expensive strategists B-1, B-2 are going into oblivion. (SVO will help that), so they will replace them many times cheaper, but with low speeds and so on. Our “Hunter” suits him in every way.
  1. strange guest
    
    +4
    
    25 January 2024 19: 11
    
    Well, if it has a combat radius like the Su-34, then we can agree with you.
    And so - 6 pieces of AGM-86B with a thermonuclear charge... Yes, not 20, like the old B-52 - but quite enough. Taking into account other advantages - including stealth and the ability to control a swarm. It is planned to put 145 B21s into service. This is almost 900 air-launched thermonuclear missiles. Perhaps in the future - hypersonic. It's significant. And this is not a strategist? Well, depending on how you look at it... the old tradition of hat-throwing...
    1. Object.F7
      
      +2
      
      26 January 2024 07: 59
      
      Only you are now trying to throw nuclear caps from hundreds of bombers that have not yet been built, and even hypersound, which does not exist.
      It’s so easy to win a virtual nuclear war, but in reality there are unresolved problems with the Houthis themselves and even in Texas
      1. strange guest
        
        0
        
        26 January 2024 15: 33
        
        If it makes you feel better, it’s not a plane, but a trough. Corner level. We'll take them down; they won't have time to take off. But if they make it in time, they still won’t make it - their kerosene is weak and their engines are crap from mopeds. And in general, they will never be able to do them. Because the competence of aircraft manufacturing in the United States has long been lost. But engine building never happened. And there were no test flights - this is a Hollywood fake, like with Apollo and Armstrong on the Moon!
        That's better? Patriotic and without admiration for the Anglo-Saxons.. Especially for you.
        Oh, I forgot! Texas will secede in the spring, the dollar will collapse in a month, Yellowstone will drown America in the summer. The Houthis will conquer the world. At least Arabic.
        
        Mikhail_2
        
        -1
        
        26 January 2024 18: 57
        
        Liked
        Do you actually have anything to say?
        Or is there only blind faith?
        
        strange guest
        
        +2
        
        26 January 2024 19: 20
        
        Essentially, a quantitatively good series for a new strategic bomber (at least - that’s how the Pentagon positions it - Long Range Strike Bomber, intended for use as a stealth aircraft with a large payload, capable of delivering thermonuclear weapons. This is where the dialogue began). And quite fast development and launch into series for the 6th generation aircraft. This means the competencies are in place.
        It is simply impossible to discuss anything more specific - there are no official technical specifications anywhere.
        
        The comment was deleted.
      2. The comment was deleted.
    2. The comment was deleted.
    3. svoroponov
      
      0
      
      5 February 2024 21: 56
      
      They don't have missiles. They have bombs. And they won’t be able to collect 900 bombs. There are not so many of them. Invisibility is achieved only in certain wavelength ranges. Our radars can see these invisible things quite well. The data on these aircraft is known - just smaller copies of the B-2. That's why they were produced quickly.
  2. DO
    
    +1
    
    27 January 2024 22: 27
    
    Quote: Vladimir Tuzakov
    Our “Hunter” suits him in every way.
    
    The “Hunter” made its first flight on August 3, 2019. Today is 2024. There have never been 100 “Hunters” in the army. Alas, we still need to learn from the USA and China how to quickly organize mass production. But not for too long, otherwise everything will be a mess.
Anchonsha

-1

25 January 2024 23: 13

Well, it’s okay, we are a little behind, it’s true, but we are also not naked, there are Tu-160 strategists, there are other long-range bombers, maybe the load is less. The main thing is that we have something to send to the enemy, they are much behind in this and it seems that they will not catch up soon. And the Americans are not able to build their B-21 so quickly, they have lost their factories and specialists, and it is impossible to create them quickly, especially given the current American economy.
1. Valerok
  
  0
  
  29 January 2024 23: 39
  It’s okay, we’re a little behind
  
  I’ll pose a question here -
  It’s okay, are we a little behind?!
  Over the past thirty years, we could not lag behind, since the direction of movement was “curbed” by business with corruption. There were no races, no competitions in this regard, We “self-destructed”, and not with some kind of spirit, but simply from the idols of Engineering.
  You should know better than us the name and fate of the hero of the Fatherland - this is a reproach to all of us..., his contemporaries
  
  -Photo by: Dmitry Pichugin
Sergey Latyshev

-1

26 January 2024 08: 56

Judging by the photo - small but roomy.
subsonic speed - due to Stealth coverage limitations.
in fact, they very quickly developed a small stealth bomber/drone.
I wonder what the price of the product will be?
1. twice-born
  
  0
  
  26 January 2024 10: 20
  
  It will be half a billion, but not less than a hundred miles! They don't waste time there. Then it is necessary to fight off such an immeasurable kickback to the Minister of Defense so that they can be produced and purchased so urgently!
anclevalico

+3

26 January 2024 09: 08

I look at the Su-57 and cry...
lord-palladore-11045

+2

26 January 2024 09: 56

Will it fly as low and low as the F-35? And I would like to know whether components will be produced for it from Russian titanium or just business and nothing personal, as well as conscience?
twice-born

0

26 January 2024 10: 17

Oh, how in the Pentagon the Minister of Defense was brought in and lobbied for! They didn’t bring it there, but they brought KamAZ money, so they rushed to make these crude and expensive bombers!
Vladimir Tuzakov

+1

26 January 2024 20: 26

At the same time, the deputy head of the US Department of Defense did not disclose the exact date of conclusion (signing) of the agreed contract with Northrop Grumman, its cost and how many B-21 Raiders it covers.

There is no need to fall for the latest sensational articles, as the commentator “Strange Guest” enthusiastically admires this... The hen is still in the nest and has not laid the “golden egg”. We have many examples of the “breakthrough” Zumvolt, which was going to be built in dozens, but they built three and don’t know where to put it. The Pentagon has many such examples, because the printing press allows it. At first glance, the B-21 with such characteristics does not seem to find a place in strategy in the 21st century; the “swarm” will be too expensive and slow. But we'll wait and see.
Alex Pan

+1

26 January 2024 21: 17

Quote: Strange guest
If it makes you feel better, it’s not a plane, but a trough. Corner level. We'll take them down; they won't have time to take off. But if they make it in time, they still won’t make it - their kerosene is weak and their engines are crap from mopeds. And in general, they will never be able to do them. Because the competence of aircraft manufacturing in the United States has long been lost. But engine building never happened. And there were no test flights - this is a Hollywood fake, like with Apollo and Armstrong on the Moon!
That's better? Patriotic and without admiration for the Anglo-Saxons.. Especially for you.
Oh, I forgot! Texas will secede in the spring, the dollar will collapse in a month, Yellowstone will drown America in the summer. The Houthis will conquer the world. At least Arabic.

Do not be mischievous.
1. bobba94
  
  +1
  
  8 February 2024 21: 28
  
  Now this is called trolling....But the trolling of the Strange Guest, it should be noted, is at a high level......
svoroponov

0

27 January 2024 16: 56

When they are in the required quantity and last for 5 years, then we can talk about something. And so, it’s not known yet that the pre-production series is in production and how long it will take to fine-tune it. And the backlog of the B-21 is the B-2 in a slightly modified form and slightly smaller, and there are probably many components from the B-2, which made it possible to speed up its design and production. Look, Zumvelt, we planned a lot and released 3 and that’s it. Hypersound may or may not happen. So far there are only problems. The F-22 still has problems and is being written off. F-35, up to 800 problems, of which up to a hundred serious ones, have not been corrected. They want to resume tomahawks with a nuclear head, but it will take several years to develop a new nuclear part, and will it fit into the bomb bay of the B-21? Or they’ll attach it to an external sling. So what’s left of invisibility? There are still more questions than answers. And they are experts at embellishing the data of their systems. But what will actually happen, the question is?