America’s newest high-tech nuclear stealth bomber has made its debut after years of secret development.
The B-21 Raider, which will be capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons around the world using medium- and long-range refueling capabilities, is part of the Pentagon’s response to growing concerns about a future conflict with China.
It is the first new American bomber in more than 30 years.
The bomber was unveiled at an event at US Air Force Base 42 in Palmdale, California, where six aircraft are already in various stages of assembly.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “This is not just another aircraft.
“It is the embodiment of America’s determination to defend the republic we all love. … We will soon fly this aircraft, test it, and then put it into production.”
Each aircraft, which has a “flying wing” shape similar to its predecessor, the B-2, is expected to cost approximately $729.25 million.
The Air Force planned to buy at least 100 of the planes and begin replacing the B-1 and B-2 bombers. Almost every aspect of the program is classified.
The plane is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize the three legs of its nuclear triad, which includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it moves from counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to deal with China’s rapid military modernization.
Image: B-21 Raider could confuse enemy radars and disguise itself as another object
China is on track to have 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035.
The Pentagon said this week in its annual China report that Beijing’s gains in hypersonics, cyberwarfare and space capabilities pose “the most consequential and systemic challenge to US national security and the free and open international system.” .
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Deborah Lee James, the secretary of the Air Force when the Raider contract was announced in 2015, said: “We needed a new bomber for the 21st century that would allow us to take on much more complicated threats, like the threats we fear we would . day face of China, Russia.”
Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp., which is building the bomber, said the B-21 is “extremely advanced” compared to the B-2 with advances in computing capabilities and materials used in coatings that make it “harder to detect”. “.
Several defense analysts say other advances include new ways to monitor electronic emissions, meaning the bomber could confuse adversary radars and disguise itself as another object.