Posted on 11/13/2017 9:39:50 AM PST by BenLurkin
Northrop won the bomber contract in 2015... activity is ramping up sharply under an Air Force budget that has reached $2 billion for this fiscal year.
...
The project marks a sharp turnaround in the fortunes of the Southern California aerospace industry, which has been atrophying since the end of the Cold War. It was widely assumed that the region would never again be home to a large aircraft manufacturing program and now it has one of the largest in modern history. The program is breathing new life into an industry that once defined the Southern California economy.
...
A crude drawing of the plane released by the Air Force seems to resemble the company’s B-2 bomber, but Donovan and others say the new plane is not a derivative but a “clean sheet” design. It is supposed to carry nuclear weapons, though the Air Force does not plan to certify it for such missions until two years after it first becomes operational, a cost-saving decision that the House Armed Services Committee criticized in a 2013 report.
... When the B-2 was built, some experts claimed it looked no bigger than a hummingbird on a radar screen. The B-21 would have to be even stealthier. The preliminary design of the bomber’s stealth characteristics was “investigated in detail against current and anticipated threats,” according to a Congressional Research Service report released in June.
The plane will be operated either by an onboard crew or autonomously, the report said. Without a crew, the bomber could linger much longer over targets, requiring fewer sorties and holding an enemy hostage much longer. Unlike the B-2, it is planned as part of a “family of systems,” implying that it would fly with other aircraft or weapons systems, though government officials declined to say anything about it.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
ping
Heck of a secret!
In 1975 I worked for Boeing at VAFB, CA and was first in line for layoff.
I was offered a position in Lancaster to work on the B-1.
As a 21 yr. old single guy, that didn’t sound very appealing, so I declined and focused on college until I landed a job w Martin Marietta.
Not a big fan of Northrop. Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed always felt better under my a$$.
“A top secret desert assembly plant...”
Not no more it ain’t.
The original design of the B2 was very similar to this new bomber, however at the last minute the Air Force added the additional requirement of low-level penetration.
that’s why it’s trailing-edge featured those extra set of ji-jags.
This tells me the new bomber is probably not designed for low-level penetration.
If its a sektit why are they talking about it.....??
If I remember correctly, when they rolled out the B-2, somebody forgot to issue a No Fly Zone restriction.
Because of that there is a Photo of the B-2 from above that shows the “Top Secret” Shape of the Fuselage from above.
I think it was taken by a Photographer who worked for an Aviation Magazine.
Top Secret is in the eye of the beholder.
Are there two different versions of the plane, or can the same plane be flown either way? If it's the same plane, why would the presence of a crew limit its loiter time?
So Northrop finally gets to build the flying wing. When was the first one built? 1947?
No need for crew life support equipment, more room for fuel.
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Lucky you didn’t. When they closed the original B1 line they were dbags about the way they did it. Guys were used to layoffs then as it went with the territory. One day the workers came in an found all of their tool boxes outside the gate where anyone could have taken them. That’s how they knew the were out of a job.
” If it’s the same plane, why would the presence of a crew limit its loiter time? “
Radiation dose on a nuclear mission.
Plus, you can remove seats, AC, galley, head to pack more fuel.
Heck, NG had a cardboard cutout of it in their lobby. No secret there.
That's the only think I could think of, which implies two variants of the aircraft.
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