The Air Force’s new nuclear stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, has taken its first test flight

AP News ^ | BY TARA COPP Updated 10:29 AM CST, November 10, 2023

[Red Badger]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The B-21 Raider took its first test flight on Friday, moving the futuristic warplane closer to becoming the nation’s next nuclear weapons stealth bomber.

The Raider flew in Palmdale, California, where it has been under testing and development by Northrop Grumman.

[Demiurge2]

Ancient astronaut theorists say YES!!!

[wally_bert]

Fun to use in Battlefield 1942 Secret Weapons expansion pack.

[Yo-Yo]

Video of the B-21 Raider: https://twitter.com/i/status/1722993343485866184

[C210N]

Mil Aviation buffs - B2 'we can have a lot of fun'

[SkyDancer]

Cool!

[steve86]

Blended-wing (and I think it’s a cranked-wing) design is the way to go for stealth bombers and (eventually) tankers.

B-21 is significantly smaller than B-2 yet electronics is what...? 30 years more advanced? And radar image has shrunk much more than physical size proportionally.

[Obadiah]

Cool plane, bro. How long before the woke military has a grand announcement that a drag queen will be the first to pilot it, or that a woman will be the first to crash it.

[steve86]

B2 gets used all the time, why wouldn’t B-21 be?

[beethovenfan]

Yeah, “used” as in flybys over football games. That’s not what I meant by “used”.

[Psalm 73]

Can’t seem to find any initial data on gross weight, max take-off weight, etc - to compare with the B-2. Anyone?

[Red Badger]

Probably secret.......................

[jjotto]

It’s smaller for greater stealth, with as little as half the payload.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/b-21-raider-designed-low-risk

[zipper]

Maybe they added some cup holders.

HAHA -- the B-2 doesn't have a bunk, the crews use a lawn chair for one of them to sleep while the other one is monitoring the autopilot. There's no seat for a third crewmember.

[NorthMountain]

If ever there was an airplane destined to generate ‘flying saucer’ reports ...

[NorthMountain]

in that cockpit in between those two primitive jet engines

I'd take that over the Me-163 Komet's H2O2 rocket engin.

[jjotto]

BTW, the B-21 is capable of missions without crew aboard. A superdrone.

[shotgun]

IIRC, a Soviet Physicist wrote a book on the theoretical design for stealth planes. The Soviets allowed it to be open published. Lockheed Martin used the theory to develop the F-117. The reason for it’s choppy look was that computer programs of the day didn’t have the computational power to design a smooth skin. Lockheed actually ended up hiring the Russian physicist.

[sit-rep]

Whoa!!...

[FrozenAssets]

I’m given to understand that a peroxide leak would dissolve the pilot in his seat. Yipes.

[NorthMountain]

Yeah ... I've read the same thing.

The book Ignition! is an informal history, written by 'one who knows', on the development of liquid rocket fuels. It's fascinating, funny, and frightening.