NeilChapman
Interested 3rd party
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Certified lurkeryou are very interesting forum member I'd say with four posts in four months
The B-21 Raider accomplished its first “power on” test in recent months, moving it another step closer to a first flight that is still scheduled to take place before the end of 2023, Northrop Grumman officials announced July 27.
Hey FighterJock, I hope so, depends on how well power on tests go (FCAS, gear swings, fuel, engine runs as some examples). I am betting December but I am being conservative, they could be farther along than they state. Taxi testing should bring the aircraft into the open but initial nighttime taxi testing could be in the cards possibly? Initial engine runs should be at night. Interesting story, during our B-2 taxi tests we had very grabby brakes which created a "duck walk" due to the wide gear track and short wheelbase during low-speed taxi. Fixed it by changing the metering valves and went to less-grabby brakes which solved the problem. Unfortunately, I do not live in the AV (28 years) any longer, I am back down on the other side of the hill now.So are we going to see a B-21 first flight sometime first half September or first half October Hydroman? It would be great to see if the B-21 gets to fly before the years end.
RQ-180? B-21 seem to have more angle wings...Interesting planform is interesting
Though IIRC the early B2 designs only had a single point, not the rear sawtooth that was apparently added when the USAF added some weird low altitude requirements...RQ-180? B-21 seem to have more angle wings...
And.... completed undercarriageAll they needed for rollout was a completed outer surface.
Are there any open source pictures of that design lurking around?Our Northrop "A-12" was smaller version of the original B-2 design and the B-21, don't mess with success. The saw tooth trailing edge on the current B-2 needed to have powerful elevons more inboard plus the GLAS surface to handle the low altitude mission. Do not fly large flying wings on the deck!
You need to deal (fast) with gust loads. You need to have control surfaces for that placed on errr... stiff areas of wing that do not bend that much, in short you need to create them inside a zone that... better read https://www.northropgrumman.com/wp-content/uploads/B-2-Spirit-of-Innovation.pdfI wonder what was found unsatisfactory about low altitude handling without that added saw-tooth. A bit too slow to change pitch perhaps?
Thanks! And thanks again for the Spirit of Innovation link!
Only one taken from The $5B Misunderstanding book which can be seen on Google images. Govt has always been pretty hush, hush regarding Northrop's XST and ATA aircraft, wonder why?Are there any open source pictures of that design lurking around?
My first assumption would be overclassification. With things like the X-47 out there in the open literature, there's no obvious reason to continue to keep that shape classified.Only one taken from The $5B Misunderstanding book which can be seen on Google images. Govt has always been pretty hush, hush regarding Northrop's XST and ATA aircraft, wonder why?
I still would bet a sum of money that the B-21 has a lineage in QUARTS/AARSOur Northrop "A-12" was smaller version of the original B-2 design and the B-21, don't mess with success. The saw tooth trailing edge on the current B-2 needed to have powerful elevons more inboard plus the GLAS surface to handle the low altitude mission. Do not fly large flying wings on the deck!
I still would bet a sum of money that the B-21 has a lineage in QUARTS/AARS
I was under the impression that Northrop had a variation of the B-2 or a flying wing that was being used in Tier 3 spaces geared towards ISR and even more recently similarities in Sensorcraft designThe Northrop QUARTZ design was very different (and lost). Straight wings like Global Hawk.
I was under the impression that Northrop had a variation of the B-2 or a flying wing that was being used in Tier 3 spaces geared towards ISR
Would one assume that it was a high altitude variant and possibly the original ATB/B-2 design or just a B-2 jammed with sensorsNorthrop may have proposed an “RB-2” in the late 80s or early 90s. It was a B-2 outfitted for reconnaissance.
In the early 80s Northrop Ventura participated in the competition for the QUARTZ long endurance penetrating UAV. That proposal had long, straight wings
Would one assume that it was a high altitude variant and possibly the original ATB/B-2 design or just a B-2 jammed with optics