B-21 to fly in Late 2021
So is this thing just the result of a B-2 fucking an F-35? Pretty cool if so, but we need something more. Possibly the SR-72 or Valkyrie II.
Whats a Valkyrie II?
what a useless plane.
What about the 2037 bomber?
Scared, Chang/Sergay?
I'll bet its already flown.
So, it's just a bigger B2?
Smaller i believe.
Was that a finalized idea of what it will look like? I kind of like pic related.
hi
>Chang/Sergay
last time I checked, chang & sergey aren't invading the US daily. how will B-21 stop the invasion?
IIRC, the B-2 was originally designed to be a high altitude bomber, but was redesigned early to be better at low altitudes. I think they abandoned that line of thinking with the B-21.
The worst part of this to me, is that the B-21 is slated to replace the B-1, B-2, and B-52 and I doubt its as capable than either the B-1 or B-52 in their specific roles.
Yeah. I like that concept better as well, but the pic in the OP is the final design afaik.
No one knows what it will look like except those working on it. Don't want the Chinese to copy this too.
I'm hoping we can keep the B52's and B1's flying even after adopting the B21. Having additional strategic air-frames would help counter both China and Russia.
Don't worry, the chinese will just have one of their nationals working on the project to leak them the info they want for it
Immigration policy isn't weapons. Sergei already has a huge Muslim problem anyways and Chang just runs unironic concentration camps.
What's the B-52 good for against a peer adversary, though? It can dump a shitload of cruise missiles, but so could any converted cargo plane.
>in their specific roles
And what would that be? Horking up maintenance bux and being unsurvivable against a modern IADS?
Sad but true. Why do military contractors still hire Chinese Nationals.
It's the drone version of the B2, basically. It'll have a cockpit, but the objective is to make it fly all on its own. Think of a cruise missile that can bomb shit and return home - it doesn't require active control, so you can't jam the operator signal. It just flies to where you told it to, releases its weapons, and returns home. Like a human bomber would.
The thing is, we will never have to convert any cargo planes because we already have hundreds of B52's.
Cruise and AShM truck. The existing bomber fleet already has solid sensor and networking capability built in. Using existing assets also means reduced (retraining) costs and avoids a lengthy competition for the contract.
The B-21 is specifically replacing the B-1 and B-2, which is understandable since neither bomber was built in large numbers and keeping them maintained keeps getting more expensive as parts dry up.
The USAF is actually thinking of expanding the B-52 fleet by bringing old airframes out of mothballs.
For maritime patrol, it has a lot of value in being a big-ass anti ship missile platform.
B52 is the most evil looking bomber ever made
Yeah, I agree.
Plus, you can do pic related with the silhouette.
It’s replacing the B-1 and serving alongside the B-2
It's a B-72.
Sort of, basically because it's not got the W near it's engines now it's capable of flying higher altitudes which'll increase it's range and payload, which in turn mean it can actually be used more often.
Basically it's the B-2 before someone demanded the B-2 have nape of the earth flight capabilities that kinda gimped it.
the problem you have there is that there is no real military peer to the US right now, the closest you get are a few "partial peers" who are peers in one specific field or battlespace, like China might be able to be considered a peer to the US in land forces, and less so with air forces but not in terms nuclear or naval forces, Russia has parity in terms of nuclear forces but not in any other form since their military budget dropped to UK levels after the collapse of the soviet union and they lost GLOSNAS, and there is literally nobody who has naval force parity with the US.
So yeah, the B-52 is a thing that say the US could deal with and do so comically easily, that's not really a threat it has to worry about right now. Probably it'll be retired when a few get shot down by insurgents at some point.
give China 5 years. They've only stated training recently. Their acquisition rate is only limited by their manpower. It's ironic that a country of 1.4 billion people don't have enough pilots and sailors.
This.
>there's a full-scale prototype in a super secret hangar right as we speak