Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

Overview

The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American strategic bomber in development for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Northrop Grumman. Part of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program, it is to be a stealth intercontinental strategic bomber that can deliver conventional and thermonuclear weapons. Named "Raider" after the Doolittle Raiders of World War II, the B-21 is meant to complement the Rockwell B-1 Lancer and Northrop B-2 Spirit, replace them by 2040, and possibly replace the 1950s Boeing B-52 Stratofortress after that. The Air Force began planning for the B-21 in 2011 and awarded the major development contract in 2015, aiming to have it in service "in the mid-2020s". By 2021, that date had slipped to 2027. As of 2025, many aspects of the B-21 special access program were still highly classified, though some information about various other aspects of the program have been made public since 2015. The first B-21 aircraft was unveiled at a 2 December 2022 ceremony at Northrop Grumman's production facilities in Palmdale, California. The first flight of a B-21 took place on 10 November 2023. Two other B-21s were in ground testing by September 2024, and a second B-21 took flight a year later.