The Air Force has finally set a date to reveal the enigmatic B-21 bomber

WASHINGTON — The Air Force has finally set a date to roll out the secretive B-21 Raider, with prime contractor Northrop Grumman today announcing plans to unveil the new stealth bomber on Dec. 2.

Northrop announced the date of the roll out on Twitter, promising to “unveil the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft” with a dramatic video showcasing an aircraft hidden by a white sheet — a common motif in the company’s advertising for the bomber.

The event will take place at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Palmdale, Calif., where the B-21 is in production. During a briefing at the Pentagon later this afternoon, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder stated that Northrop will be in charge of determining the guest list for the rollout and delivering invitations.

“The US last introduced a new bomber over 30 years ago,” he said. “The B-21 raider will provide our nation with a formidable combat capability that can be employed across a range of operations, in the highly contested environment of the future.”

Although aircraft roll outs aren’t typically major news events outside of the world of defense trade publications, the public unveiling of a new strategic bomber is a once-in-a-generation event that is bound to be attended by Pentagon leadership and generate interest from the American public.

Although artist renderings of the B-21 have been published by the Air Force and Northrop Grumman, those illustrations have been carefully created so as to keep secret important design features. Meanwhile, the actual B-21 aircraft has never been publicly revealed.

Last month, Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s acquisition executive, confirmed that the roll out would occur during the first week of December. In a subsequent news release, Northrop stated that stated that the event would provide an “exclusive view” of the B-21 — hinting that those so lucky to see the new bomber in person may only be able to view it from a specific angle, allowing the Air Force and Northrop to prevent onlookers from gleaning any secret information about the design.

Due to the classification of the bomber, many details of the B-21 program still remain secret.

RELATED: As classified B-21 bomber nears flight, secret facility sees more curious probing

When Northrop won the Long Range Strike Bomber contract in 2015 — beating out a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team — Air Force officials confirmed that the development of the aircraft would occur under a cost-plus-incentive fee contract, with a fixed-price contract to follow for production. The development phase was projected to cost $21.4 billion in 2010 dollars, with each B-21 costing — on average — equal or less than $550 million in 2010 dollars. However, the Pentagon has strictly controlled the release of any actual cost data pertaining to the program.

So far, Northrop has disclosed that it has six B-21s in production, with the first flight scheduled for 2023. In March, then-Rapid Capabilities Office Director Randall Walden told Air Force Magazine that the first B-21 bomber had moved off the production line and into a calibration facility, where it will undergo testing to ensure the structure of the aircraft meets the Air Force’s requirements.

“It’s got landing gear. … It’s got wheels on it. … It’s got the wings on it. It really looks like a bomber,” Walden told the magazine.

The Air Force requested $5 billion for B-21 in fiscal 2023, including $1.7 billion in procurement funding, although the service will not disclose how many bombers that will buy. Overall, the Air Force plans on buying at least 100 B-21s.

Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota is set to become the first operational B-21 base, with Whiteman AFB in Missouri and Dyess AFB in Texas likely to follow.