The Air Force is working on a sweeping force structure review mandated by Congress and reconsidering its approach for the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter. Key to both, however, could be another question: just how large will the service’s B-21 bomber fleet be? During an Oct. 24 earnings ...
The Air Force says it is unaware of quality issues with work done by Spirit AeroSystems on the B-21 bomber. Spirit is under investigation by the NTSB for its work on Boeing 737 MAX airliners which may have contributed to a January in-flight accident.
Northrop Grumman has received the B-21 low-rate initial production contract, which was keyed to achieving the first flight of the new bomber, which happened Nov. 10, 2023. The value of the contract may be revealed when Northrop holds its fourth quarter 2023 earnings call later ...
A new picture of the secret B-21 bomber shows that its exhaust and rear deck differs substantially from that of its predecessor, the B-2. The Air Force confirmed the image is of a B-21.
Northrop Grumman won't get its B-21 low-rate initial production contract until after first flight happens, company officials said on their quarterly earnings call. They also said Northrop won’t make any money on the B-21 in the LRIP phase, due to higher labor costs and inflation ...
The first B-21 bomber is conducting taxi tests at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., the service confirmed, meaning that first flight is likely fast approaching.
The Air Force says the B-21 Raider won't make its first flight until 2023; about a six-month delay from the last official estimates. No reason was given for the delay. While other programs have recently chalked up schedule slips to supply chain and labor shortages, ...
Air Force Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray offered a blunt assessment of the Army’s plan to take over some of the Air Force’s long-range strike mission. “It’s a stupid idea,” he said during an AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies podcast. The ...