Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider (LRS-B)

The fact that a change was made to enable higher production rates could point to a change in the programs execution schedule. The USAF has been pretty tight lipped about what the production rate will be, but that quote implies it has been increased.
 
bobbymike said:
If not can you provide this forum your detailed breakdown of the exact dollar impact from these tariffs on NG?
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I don't think even NG can do that at this point. I don't think it will significant on account of direct tariffs since they have minimal commercial aero exposure (and exemptions will be worked for those over time as well)..NG's largest exposure will probably be due to rising steel and other material costs on account of tariffs on foreign imports of those forcing domestic material costs to rise.
 
Josh_TN said:
The fact that a change was made to enable higher production rates could point to a change in the programs execution schedule. The USAF has been pretty tight lipped about what the production rate will be, but that quote implies it has been increased.
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My feeling as well, plus the rumblings that DAF wants ~145 airframes instead of 100 suggest that if the money were magically available, you’d want those extra airframes as soon as possible (cfe B-2 usage in Yemen). In short, you want more capacity sooner rather than a line staying open longer.

On another note, USAF alluded to six airframes existing as of 2022, not sure what the build time is for these initial aircraft is, but we should be about to enter a period of multiple ships undergoing higher cadence flight testing.

Too bad there isn’t a highway running perpendicular to the Edwards main runway.
 
There was some reporting suggesting an initial facilitization for producing seven aircraft a year. Previous administration expressed hope that this could be increased in the future. Perhaps they managed to convince NG to pony up the cash to prepare for this.
 
Training_Dummy said:
My feeling as well, plus the rumblings that DAF wants ~145 airframes instead of 100 suggest that if the money were magically available, you’d want those extra airframes as soon as possible (cfe B-2 usage in Yemen). In short, you want more capacity sooner rather than a line staying open longer.

On another note, USAF alluded to six airframes existing as of 2022, not sure what the build time is for these initial aircraft is, but we should be about to enter a period of multiple ships undergoing higher cadence flight testing.

Too bad there isn’t a highway running perpendicular to the Edwards main runway.
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per this TIME article on the B-21 (arguably the most interesting literature & media about the b21 so far)
in November, Charles and dozens of workers swarmed around four unfinished B-21s ... The B-21 team has churned out two planes thus far: T-1, the aircraft unveiled during the Dec. 2 rollout, and G-1, which is now undergoing ground tests.
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I think there was some more recent discourse on how many airframes exist now. I would bet there are 2 flying, with a third undergoing ground testing.


Unrelated note: I wonder if MTC is making the windscreen for the Raider. I would be interested in learning more about the shaping of the cockpit/windscreen area :)
 
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bring_it_on said:
There would be no reason not to announce the first flight of the second B-21 to join the flight test campaign.
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I had the same thought which is why I didn’t explicitly say there was more than one test vehicle flying at the moment but as regards about USAF having no reason to announce having a second flying airframe I agree 100%. The only reason you might not disclose a second airframes flight is if you might soon be in a position to make a “bigger” announcement - four or five aircraft with maybe just maybe a few w/o the more obvious flight test features like the angry red pitot tube, although I’m doubtful. Who knows.
 
4decaa said:
per this TIME article on the B-21 (arguably the most interesting literature & media about the b21 so far)

I think there was some more recent discourse on how many airframes exist now. I would bet there are 2 flying, with a third undergoing ground testing.


Unrelated note: I wonder if MTC is making the windscreen for the Raider. I would be interested in learning more about the shaping of the cockpit/windscreen area :)
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They announced in September 2024 that there are two aircrafts undergoing ground testing and one flying, so there’s that… I am puzzled by the lack of indication that a second flying prototype is flying, it should be flying now even if we paste the schedule of the B-2 here.
 
JoshuaH said:
They announced in September 2024 that there are two aircrafts undergoing ground testing and one flying, so there’s that… I am puzzled by the lack of indication that a second flying prototype is flying, it should be flying now even if we paste the schedule of the B-2 here.
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On the other hand, the B-21 program seems to have only four flying prototypes compared with B-2’s six (six aircrafts were in production total, two of them are ground prototypes), so it makes sense for them to move testing previously assigned to later prototypes into earlier prototypes. I would imagine maybe moving CNI tests (aperture present) and weapon release (working bomb bay?) onto the first prototype. In the B-2 program those were seemed to be tested on the 3rd and the 4th prototypes…
 
There appear to be six B-21 development aircraft. At least one is flying and at least one more is for ground testing only; the other four I presume to be EMD aircraft but I have not read anything explicitly stating such. However six aircraft would match the B-2 development production.

I have no idea if other aircraft are flying but I would think at least one would be ready by now. There is enough secrecy around testing that it is possible no one mentioned a second flight worthy aircraft. LRIP contracts were already signed a year ago; I would expect production aircraft to be in some state of assembly by now.
 
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B2Blain said:
https://theaviationist.com/2025/04/15/b-21-raider-ellsworth-afb-in-mid-2020s/

I believe the mid 2020s was talk about previously as when the B-21 would become operational. Based on the completion of new B-21 support facilities it should be soon. I am curious as to when other test articles will be added to the one undergoing testing at Edwards. Digital models and Open Mission Systems. likely have reduced the time for testing of the aircraft systems. Will find out how much. Perhaps, this will bode well for the F-47.
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I also think this will be a positive for the F47. Curious if you found out how much time for testing is reduced regarding OMS?
 
bobbymike said:
Your original post implies all $477 million impact due to tariffs do you stand by this analysis?

If not can you provide this forum your detailed breakdown of the exact dollar impact from these tariffs on NG?
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YES, they had already booked a $1.2bn loss that they ascribed to general inflation and labour price increases since the signing of the original contract until January 2024 (a period of 9 years from 2015 to 2024), this fresh loss in the Q1 2025 financial results they attribute to material price increases during this quarter moving forward.

On the B-21 LRIP loss:
Kathy Warden, Chair, CEO and President, Northrop Grumman: The drivers of the charge were related to a process change and that process change supports the accelerated production rates that I referenced. And so, in that way, it’s a very defined change, and we now understand and have the learning from making that change, and that’s not something we will need to do again. This positions us to ramp to the quantities needed in full rate production, and even as I noted, we can ramp beyond the quantities in the program of record, which is something that we and the government decided was important for the optionality to support the scenarios that they have been looking at to increase the current build rate. The second part of the charge that I mentioned is related to the quantity of general procurement materials as well as the price. And there, we had underestimated the amount of consumption of those materials as well as the price increase that we are seeing.
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She also said the material price increase was due to 'Macroeconomic factors'
 
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It’s both volume of materials as well as cost. The latter might be directly related to inflation, whatever the cause, and the former might be also be indirectly related, if they pre-purchased and overbuilt stocks of things they felt were especially vulnerable to future price increases, which would be indirectly caused by (fears of) future inflation. Or the additional volume might reflect a more intensive manufacturing cadence. Or a mixture of the both.

The transition of this thread from inflation to flight testing reflects a more generic question - contracts and costs aside are one important part of the discussion; the other is where this program is today vs where it was scheduled to be two years ago, and where it needs to be vs where DAF would like it to be to be enable an 150 airframe buy over a strategically relevant timeframe.

Putting aside LO and sensor improvements, to me the major benefit of B-21 as a platform is if it can be a daily flyer. Perhaps DAF wanting a bigger Raider buy is as much a sign of encouraging progress as it a reflection of USAFs need for strike mass.
 
FighterJock said:
I would think that it is going to be a large single touchscreen all the way for the B-21s cockpit just like the F-35 and Advanced Super Hornet, there will be no more old fashioned buttons these days are well and trully over I am afraid Musashi311.
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To be honest, I'm here for it. I met a couple of F-35A pilots when I was at Holloman AFB for their annual air show last year, and they had nothing but good things to say about the touchscreen setup, although they were coming from the A-10C. They felt that the information they needed was far easier to access than simply pressing a bunch of buttons on two small MFDs to cycle through different pages/modes.
 
0% chance its' one big display - it violates the open-systems architecture and the desire to separate the flight computer from the mission computer

I would give good odds to the cockpit having three displays: one display for each pilot for "safety critical instruments" with physical buttons. And then one giant display for the mission computer. Maybe even with a keyboard/trackball so they can send emails encrypted messages in flight.
 
zevets said:
0% chance its' one big display - it violates the open-systems architecture and the desire to separate the flight computer from the mission computer

I would give good odds to the cockpit having three displays: one display for each pilot for "safety critical instruments" with physical buttons. And then one giant display for the mission computer. Maybe even with a keyboard/trackball so they can send emails encrypted messages in flight.
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Okay, yes I could definitely see that being the setup.
 
Given the B-2 radical take on cockpit RCS reduction, I wonder if the 21 would step further down the line in that process. I would imagine a visual station for approach, landing, visual flight and refueling, and one for penetration flight. I would not be surprised to see the seats slidding back and a solid screen masking the front section to tackle more efficiently any radar energy.
IMOHO, that would explain the side windows cutouts shapes.
Anyhow, synthetic vision is probably a big part of the cockpit arrangement, with a HMD and large console screen commune for both pilots visual reference.
 

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