The first new B-21 Stealth bomber will be having test flights this year and there should be 24-30 operational B-21 stealth bombers by 2030. There should be more operational B-21 stealth bombers than B-2 stealth bombers by 2028 or 2029. There were only 21 B-21 stealth bombers ever built and several have stopped flying and more will be decommissioned.
The forecast of 24-30 operational B-21 raiders was declared at a mid-September, 2023 annual Air Force Association (AFA) convention where a panel including Northrop-Grumman president, Tom Jones, William D. Bailey, the head of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, Brigadier Gen talked about the B-21.
As B-21s are delivered, the Air Force will phase out current B-1s and B-2s. Today’s nominal bomber inventory of 141 B-52s, B-1s and B-2s is smaller than at almost any time in USAF history Gunzinger noted, adding that the Pentagon’s current plan yields a bomber fleet of just 133 by 2033.
The United States Air Force has 45 B-1B Lancer bombers. There are over five B-21s in production or built and there are about 100 planned.
The B2 started delivery in 1992. The B-1Bs started delivery in 1984.
The B-21 is smaller than the B-2 and has vastly better and modernized stealth capabilities.
The B-21 raider should be able to penetrate China’s air defenses. The B-2 is now at far greater risk of being detected and shot down.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Typo: “There were only 21 B-21 stealth bombers ever built”
Due to my position at the time, I was part of the beddown committee when it was being determined how Whiteman AFB would transition to becoming the home for these odd black aircraft. I always thought it was cool how each plane got its own hangar complete with refueling facilities inside. Not so cool is I recall sitting through a two-hour meeting once to determine what the letterhead would look like for the base’s new combined wing (the base already had an ICBM wing, which went away a few years later).
As a private citizen I do agree it would have been difficult to find a mission for them after the cold-war. And yes, they might be able to sneak around inside of enemy air-space but, at half a billion apiece, they were too expensive to risk for anything that wasn’t a nuclear strike, and if the enemy were ever to get any suspicion they had one flying in their airspace, whether they could see it or not, they would have to assume it had a nuclear payload, probably causing them to figure it was time to press their button (turn their keys, actually).
Any country that is designing a major weapon system should take into account that is will be detected, be it a fighter jet, bomber, submarine or aircraft carrier. Doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be built, but only if it can be defended.
Do these planes still have a role in this age of missiles and drones
Yes. Once deployed they are extremely hard to destroy especially considering they can use stealth stand-off weaponry. They serve two primary purposes:
1. It allows the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons that can be recalled. This is an important element of escalation management.
2. In the event of a nuclear war, it allows for follow-up strikes to ensure that selected targets are thoroughly destroyed. A city like Moscow would be targeted by 10-12 W87s. A B-21 would conduct a BDA and drop either B61 Mod 11s or B83s on known underground facilities.
It should be noted that in the event of a nuclear war that Russian air defenses would be badly degraded. A platform like the B-21 could likely operate with impunity within Russian airspace and be used for follow on strikes.