Additional photo from Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-21_Raider#/media/File%3AB-21_Plant_42_hangar.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-21_Raider#/...</a><p>Additional PR from Northrop: <a href="https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-21-raider/10-facts-about-northrop-grummans-b-21-raider/" rel="nofollow">https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-21-raider/1...</a><p>I have to admit that the 6th gen classification sounds a bit weak. Data links are hardly new and fighters have been integrating every weapon under the sun for decades.<p>But the Open Architecture stuff (and more generally how tech is shared between projects) appears to have started serving America well.
I’m going to go with this isn’t an actual flying article. It’s just too smooth, even the high-rez pic. No cutouts/markings for ejection seats. No air sensors, no hatches, access panels. Possible it’s so fresh out of paint booth they’re not marked, but doubt it.<p>Probably a structural/ground test victim. That NG said “you won’t see it again until it flies” says we won’t see much more.<p>Lots of wing washout, more than the B-2. It’s porky, so they didn’t go with two or three engines (unless there’s a top inlet) so four P&Ws, draggy, lots of fuel needed. But I bet the payload is more than 2/3 the B-2.<p>It makes the B-2 look svelte.
“The aircraft were projected to cost approximately $550 million each in 2010 dollars, or about $750 million in today's inflation-adjusted dollars.<p>The Air Force planned to buy at least 100 of the planes and begin to replace B-1 and B-2 bombers.”<p>75 Billion or what? 10% of all defense spending on these planes?!
I had expected the military to go with autonomous self-flying self-bombing
if necessary, kamikaze drone strategic bombers.<p>It could maneuver and operate in conditions a ride along pilot could not
survive.<p>As several others have pointed out the promo shots seems to leave out
ejection facilities and other nifty things for humans to survive.
So we now have apple'esc style reveal events for death machines. That's nice /s<p>If this thing ever gets to see action a lot of lives will be lost.
There isn't much to go on but it seems weird to me, that compared to the extremely complex geometry of the B-2's intake that clearly looked computer designed, the B-21 has smooth, clean, flowing lines. It looks like something that could've been designed with a slide rule in the 60s.