WASHINGTON (AP) — The B-21 Raider took its first check flight on Friday, shifting the futuristic warplane nearer to changing into the nation’s subsequent nuclear weapons stealth bomber.
The Raider flew in Palmdale, California, the place it has been beneath testing and improvement by Northrop Grumman.
The Air Drive is planning to construct 100 of the warplanes, which have a flying wing form very similar to their predecessor the B-2 Spirit however will incorporate superior supplies, propulsion and stealth expertise to make them extra survivable in a future battle. The aircraft is deliberate to be produced in variants with and with out pilots.
“The B-21 Raider is in flight testing,” Air Drive spokeswoman Ann Stefanek mentioned.
Such testing is a essential step within the marketing campaign to supply “survivable, long-range, penetrating strike capabilities to discourage aggression and strategic assaults in opposition to the US, allies, and companions,” Stefanek mentioned.
The B-21 Raider is the primary new American bomber plane in additional than 30 years, and nearly each side of this system is classed. Each Northrop Grumman and the Air Drive have tried to guard this system’s particulars to forestall China from having access to the weapon’s expertise and constructing the same model, because it has with different U.S. superior weapons techniques just like the F-35 joint strike fighter.
The B-21 is a part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize all three legs of its nuclear triad, which incorporates silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, because it invests in new weapons to satisfy China’s fast navy modernization.
Northrop Grumman Corp. relies in Falls Church, Virginia.
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