Status: 03.12.2022 08:03
The US Air Force has unveiled its new stealth bomber. The “B-21 Raider” should be even less visible to radar and be able to fly without a crew. Its name commemorates an attack in World War II.
The US Air Force has unveiled its new B-21 Raider stealth bomber – the Air Force’s first new bomber model in decades. The high-tech aircraft was presented on Friday in a lavish staging on the premises of the armaments company Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, California.
The B-21 is said to be even more difficult to spot for enemy radar than other stealth bombers and can theoretically fly unmanned. It can carry both nuclear and conventional missiles. The price per aircraft is likely to be just under 700 million dollars (around 670 million euros), the American Air Force wants to buy at least 100 machines. The first flight is planned for next year.
The name is meant to honor a lieutenant colonel
The B-21 is intended to gradually replace the previous B-1 and B-2 bombers in the Air Force, which date back to the Cold War era. “The B-21 will be the backbone of our future bomber force,” said Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek. The aircraft has the ability to penetrate the “most competitive risk areas” in the world.
The name Raider is a tribute to the so-called Doolittle Raid – the English word “raid” means attack – in World War II. Months after the Japanese surprise attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, US bombers led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle attacked Tokyo on April 18, 1942. It was the first American attack on mainland Japan and a symbolically important success for US forces.