Yesterday we learned that the U.S. Air Force's B-21 "Raider" strategic bomber completed its first flight. This first flight was supposed to be silent, but freelance photojournalist Matt Hartman captured footage of the aircraft taking off from Palmdale, California, on Friday morning, ending the project's secrecy.
Northrop Grumman's B-21 bomber will fly alongside and eventually replace the Air Force's B-1B, B-2 and B-52 strategic heavy bombers, but the U.S. government seems keen to keep it a closely guarded secret as a secret project. Although some media were invited to participate in the bomber's test process and some pictures were released, there are very few technical details about this first bomber designed by the United States in 40 years. Even the start of taxi testing was kept secret until rumors and pictures on social media allowed the Air Force to confirm that testing had indeed begun.
Shortly thereafter, the Air Force once again confirmed the fact that the B-21 had indeed taken to the skies and briefly flown to Edwards Air Force Base in California for ground testing, taxiing and flight operations.
Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said: "The B-21 Raider is undergoing flight testing. Flight testing is a critical step in the test activities managed by the Air Force Test Center and the 412th Test Wing's B-21 Joint Test Force to provide a survivable long-range penetrating strike capability to deter aggression and strategic attacks against the United States, allies and partners."
Currently, the B-21 fleet consists of a small number of experimental prototypes, but when it is declared operational in 2027, the bomber will grow to at least 100 aircraft. The new sixth-generation bomber will augment the existing fleet of B-1B Lancers, B-2 Phantoms and B-52J Stratofortresses, with the B-21 replacing them sometime in the 2050s.