Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider (LRS-B)

[4decaa]

The inlet are interesting they look closed ?

no

 

[dark sidius]

no

No and ? the interior shape seem to don't be a classical shape the stream going down in the intlet ?

 

[4decaa]

No and ? the interior shape seem to don't be a classical shape the stream going down in the intlet ?

it's dark, so you can't really see much. But if it had a cover on it, the inlet would look like the image below. with a line in the middle. I don't see a line in the picture so I am assuming the inlet is open

 

[bobbymike]

Would love to know how stealthy this beautiful aircraft is. I’m clinging to the program to fuel my normal technological optimism.

 

[Josh_TN]

I consider it likely incrementally superior to B-2, or else there would be no need to bury the inlets or shrink the windows.

 

[aim9xray]

Would love to know how stealthy this beautiful aircraft is. I’m clinging to the program to fuel my normal technological optimism.

"The B-21 is stealthy. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly stealthy it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist B-2, but that's just peanuts to the B-21."

 

[JoshuaH]

Would love to know how stealthy this beautiful aircraft is. I’m clinging to the program to fuel my normal technological optimism.

Knowing how many compromises Northrop made with the B-2 that affected its stealth performance: Increase in leading edge radius, elevated inlets, low bypass engines (on the infrared side), the edges of the cockpit windshield are not even aligned for some reason... I would be very surprised if the B-21 does not offer significantly improved stealth performance…

 

[quellish]

"The B-21 is stealthy. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly stealthy it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist B-2, but that's just peanuts to the B-21."

To give some perspective, -70dbsm (0.0000001 m2) was being flown regularly in the 1990s. It would be reasonable to expect that B-21 has an RCS in relevant bands equal to or lower than that.

 

[sublight_]

To give some perspective, -70dbsm (0.0000001 m2) was being flown regularly in the 1990s. It would be reasonable to expect that B-21 has an RCS in relevant bands equal to or lower than that.

But the difference is the skin on B-21 can likely be maintained in a reasonable manner, for an affordable amount of capital now. All those toxic death burn pits at Groom helped push the wheels of progress forward.

 

[aonestudio]

B-21 Highlights Strong Performance Through Innovative Technology

Northrop Grumman continues to deliver strong performance across test and production on the B-21 Raider, with an LRIP Lot 2 award late last year signaling further confidence in the program’s technical performance and progress. In partnership with the U.S....

news.northropgrumman.com

 

[Hydroman]

B-21 Highlights Strong Performance Through Innovative Technology

Northrop Grumman continues to deliver strong performance across test and production on the B-21 Raider, with an LRIP Lot 2 award late last year signaling further confidence in the program’s technical performance and progress. In partnership with the U.S....

news.northropgrumman.com

NGC is very good at this. B-2 was also built from the beginning on production tooling. B-2 used "early" Northrop digital engineering techniques.

 

[bobbymike]

https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2025/3/18/stratcom-commander-beats-drum-for-45-more-b21-bombers

 

[bobbymike]

STRATCOM Chief: Air Force Needs 145 B-21s and More New Strategic Systems

STRATCOM commander Gen. Anthony J. Cotton thinks the Air Force needs 145 B-21s, and both USAF and the Navy need more strategic systems.

www.airandspaceforces.com

This is not the first time Cotton has indicated he would like more Raiders. Last year, he told lawmakers that he would “love” to have morethan 100 of the bombers, but he did not offer the 145 figure he presented now.

“That gives us 220 bombers when the BUFFs (B-52s) are included,” Cotton said at McAleese. Cotton also said he’s “really happy with the work Northrop Grumman is doing” with development and testing of the B-21.

He also praised Raytheon for its “amazing” work on the LRSO, the new nuclear missile the Air Force is working on to succeed the AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile. Like the B-21, though, he suggested the program needs to grow…………..

…………..Cotton also said that the Navy’s new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine also likely needs to be built in greater numbers than were originally envisioned, for all the same reasons. The threat is “significantly greater” than it was in an earlier era, and “this is not ‘Cold War 2.0,’” he said.