iscover
Northrop Grumman has announced its B-21 Raider aircraft has demonstrated weapons release capability, marking a major step forward for America’s next-generation bomber.
The capability reportedly demonstrates that the B-21 can carry and employ combat power, illustrating how Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force are steadily advancing the B-21 on the path to warfighting capability.
The B-21 program is accelerating both production and test ahead of aircraft on the ramp at Ellsworth Air Force Base in 2027.
“B-21 is another step closer to giving the U.S. unrivaled deterrence,” said Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems.
“As we’ve heard from our Air Force partners, the B-21 Combined Test Force is the envy of the entire test community for its sustained rapid test pace and progress. Northrop Grumman is turning advanced technology into real capability and delivering with both performance and speed.”
The B-21 Raider reportedly offers exceptional payload flexibility, giving commanders the ability to tailor weapon loadouts to a wide range of mission requirements, from long-range strikes to operations in heavily defended airspace.
B-21 is also adaptable by design, allowing new weapons and capabilities to be integrated over time, keeping it ahead of evolving threats and maintaining its role as a pacing sixth-generation system.
Designed as the future of long range, penetrating strike, the B-21 possesses the global range necessary to hold any target around the globe at risk, according to Northrop. Enabling this reach, the addition of aerial refueling in flight test this year has unlocked longer test sorties and accelerated the overall campaign.
The B-21’s next generation stealth, advanced networking and open-architecture design enable the aircraft to share data seamlessly across domains, adapt ahead of evolving threats and remain effective in the most challenging environments.
Northrop Grumman recently opened another B-21 manufacturing facility. The Layton, Utah, facility adds 265,000 manufacturing square feet, and Northrop Grumman broke ground on an expanded one million square foot final assembly line facility at Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif.
Northrop Grumman has already completed lifetimes of fatigue testing months ahead of schedule, further validating the strength and resilience of the B-21’s design.
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Defence Connect a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Defence Connect as a preferred news source.