Key Points – The B-21 Raider, the USAF’s next-generation stealth bomber expected in the late 2020s, promises unmatched capabilities for global power projection.
-Its flying-wing design offers exceptional radar evasion, enabling penetration of dense enemy air defenses for conventional or nuclear strikes (B61-12, hypersonic weapons, JASSM).
-The B-21 is a fully digitized platform, leveraging advanced manufacturing and cloud-based infrastructure for efficiency and low production risk.
-With a 6,000-mile range (extendable via refueling) and an optimal flight profile of Mach 0.8 at 50,000 feet, it’s designed for anytime, anywhere attack. Plans for over 100 aircraft, potentially many more, aim to ensure US strategic dominance.
The B-21 Raider Bomber Explained
The B-21 Raider will soon debut as the most advanced bomber in the U.S. Air Force. This next-generation ultra-stealth airplane has many people excited. The program is mostly on time and under budget, which keeps the bean-counters in the executive branch and legislators on Capitol Hill from worrying, even though Northrop Grumman has lost some money on the project.
But President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are enthused about the future of the program because it will ensure the United States has the ability to conduct conventional and nuclear strikes worldwide when it comes online in the late 2020s or early 2030s.
When combined with the future F-47 fighter jet, the Americans will have a strong one-two punch of sixth-generation warplanes that can take the fight to the enemy like no other fighter-bomber duo in history.
Let’s look at five fast facts about the B-21 Raider
The B-21 Raider Is Super Stealth
The Raider’s stealth attributes are unmatched. This flying-wing design’s superb radar-evasion capability means the B-21 can depart on Day One of a conflict and deliver a conventional or nuclear payload through difficult and multi-layered threat environments.
We worry about China’s ability to execute its anti-access/area-denial strategy, but the B-21 can beat this gambit and succeed in a high number of complex missions.
The Best In Digital Technology
The Raider is a fully digitized platform. The onboard software consists of industry-leading designs by some of the best developers and engineers in the business. The B-21 starts with advanced manufacturing that depends on digital infrastructure to create economies of scale.
There is little production risk. Ground testing and flight evaluation uses the most highly advanced digital modeling. There is also cloud-based infrastructure to support the B-21. Workers implement “augmented reality tools allowing technicians to visualize tasks and solve problems before ever touching the plane,” according to Northrop Grumman.
Anytime, Anywhere Attack Mode
The B-21 has global reach. Since it is nuclear-capable, the Raider is an important leg of the U.S. nuclear triad. It will fly from its eventual home at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to attack hot spots around the world.
The B-21 has a range of 6,000 miles, and aerial refueling can extend that distance. The bomber will be able to destroy multiple targets in one sortie. The president at any time will be able to command the B-21 to carry out devastating missions against the enemy, with no hesitation about whether the Raider will reach a target. A B-21’s pilot and crew will always depart knowing there is a high probability the bomber will come back home in one piece.
Weapons Are Powerful for B-21 Raider
The B-21 will carry the advanced B61-12 nuclear bomb. It will also have the ability to launch hypersonic weapons. Other weapons include the JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles), precision-guided cruise missiles based on next-generation technology that carry 1,000-pound armor-piercing warheads.
The JASSM-ER has extended range. The B-21’s JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) use GPS and internal navigation for precision strikes. It will also arm medium-range air-to-ground missiles employed for Suppression and/or Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses. That last mission is crucial on the first day of warfare, when it is necessary to eliminate radar and surface-to-air missile systems.
Speed and Altitude
The B-21 can fly at Mach 0.8, with an altitude of 50,000 feet. This is an optimum speed and ceiling for the most efficient travel to long-range targets. The B-21 will be fully stealthy at this speed and altitude, making for a bomber that can penetrate the most advanced air defenses.
Combine this with global reach and a strong weapons suite, and you have one of the best bombers in the world.
Big Fans in Congress
Senator Mike Rounds from South Dakota can’t wait until his state receives the first Raiders. The United States may order more than 100 of the bombers, according to Rounds.
“The B-21 is being built in such a fashion that eventually it will be able to do missions without being manned,” Rounds said. “And that’s a part of the long-term planning on the B-21 today. A hundred units, it’s correct to start out, to get everything done and get it operational. But look, we’re talking, and I know that some of your experts have actually recommended over 280 units when we’re all set and done. It’s not unreasonable when you’re looking at both Russia and China and knowing that you have to have both conventionally capable weapon systems and nuclear capable weapon systems to have enough to make sure that they realize that it’s going to be an extremely expensive attack by them because they will not be able to defend against the counterattack by B-21s.”
The Americans are playing a royal flush thanks to the B-21. It holds the cards in stealth, range, digital architecture, weapons, speed, and altitude. Northrop Grumman should be proud of what it has accomplished.
It will need ample oversight to make sure it hits schedule and cost estimates, but so far the program is showing the world a platform that can eventually dominate anywhere around the globe.
The B-21 Raider can be summed up in just one word: transformational.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
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