Air Warfare

New B-21 photos released, as engine runs begin

“We're still hopeful of having first flight this year,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. “If I were to say it will, I would be making a very specific prediction, and I never do that about an acquisition program for something that hasn't happened yet.”

By Michael Marrow on September 13, 2023 11:53 am
B-21
Air Force Gen. CQ Brown displayed a new image of the B-21 Raider during a keynote address at the Air & Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber conference on Tuesday, Sept, 12. (US Air Force photo.)

AFA 2023 — The Air Force’s B-21 Raider has started engine runs as part of its ground testing campaign at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Palmdale, Calif., a top service official said Tuesday, a key step toward getting the stealth bomber in the air. 

“We are in the process of doing the engine runs on the B-21 at Northrop Grumman’s facilities at Palmdale California, and they’re going very well,” Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, said during a Tuesday panel at the Air & Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber conference in National Harbor, Md. 

“And we are very well looking forward to first flight this year,” he added.

The service’s development aircraft used for testing, which Bussiere dubbed T-1, will share mission systems identical to those slated for production aircraft, he said. “That is a leap forward for our testers who are going to take this airframe through the flight testing regiments.” 

On Wednesday, Will Bailey, director of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, said fewer than five days passed between fueling up and running the bomber’s engines, which he said is a stark break from the past.

“If you’ve been in the business that’s usually measured in weeks, if not more,” Bailey said during a panel at the AFA conference.

Also on Tuesday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown — who is President Joe Biden’s pick to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs — unveiled new photos of the service’s newest stealth bomber during a keynote speech at the conference, a rare glimpse at the highly classified flying wing. 

Northrop too unveiled its own new image in a press release, in which it calls the Raider the “world’s first sixth-generation aircraft.”

Though Bussiere seemed to express confidence in the bomber’s first flight occurring later this year, senior service officials hedged that expectation in a Sept. 11 roundtable with reporters. The bomber’s inaugural flight, which the Air Force originally planned for mid-2022, has slipped by a few months. But officials this week expressed confidence the program will overall remain on track.

“I’m still comfortable with how we’re knocking out the mini-milestones to get to first flight,” said Andrew Hunter, the service’s acquisition chief, on Monday. 

“We’re still hopeful of having first flight this year,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that same day. “If I were to say it will, I would be making a very specific prediction, and I never do that about an acquisition program for something that hasn’t happened yet.”

“There is always risk in development programs. Something can surprise you,” Kendall added. “So absent any unexpected surprises, we’re okay. But surprises do happen in acquisition programs.”

b21 northrop
The B-21 Raider continues to progress in ground testing with the commencement of engine runs at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Palmdale, Calif. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)
b21 palmdale
The B-21 bomber is seen in its production facility in Palmdale, Calif. (US Air Force)

PHOTOS: AFA 2023

Gallery
Presented by

Anduril-logo

PHOTOS: AFA 2023

You don't see too many turbofans on unmanned aircraft systems but PBS Aerospace hopes to change that. Besides drones, they're also used for target drones, experimental aircraft, and ultralight helicopters.
Whether you fly fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft, Centex has a helment for you. Their suite of headborne protection systems manage hazardous conditions such as high-G, ejection, wind shear, noise and debris.

Elbit Systems of America wants to jam with you. That is, they. want to help you jam others with their systems that target threat radars, multiple emitters simultaneously, and surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles.

Augmented reality is going to be a boon to aircraft maintainers, in particular, and Amentum says it's perfect for reducing troubleshooting time and increasing situational awareness and collaboration. The dummy agrees.
CAE is here at AFA but their latest news came out of this week's Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) conference. CAE signed an MOU with Textron Aviation Defense that expands efforts to support defense force preparation, integrate next-generation aircraft. and develop advanced capabilities.
With decades of experience behind it, variants of the Aerojet Rocketdyne/L3Harris RL10 engine power the upper stages of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy rockets. Two RL10 engines power the upper stage of ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket, and RL10 engines also help propel NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket
You can never have too many transport aircraft and Embraer is showing off its C-390 Millennium multi-mission transport to any US Air Force procurement execs walking the show flow. To the left are some of the C-390's cockpit controls. Embraer recently delivered the sixth C-390 multi-mission transport to the Brazilian Air Force.
Taking its visual cues from the Star Wars X-wing starfighter, the dart-like ROC-X VTOL precision strike missile from IAI is a version of the company's POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile that is backpack carriable. Earlier this year, the DoD awarded IAI a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract for the system. (Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense)
What do we want? We want uninterrupted position, navigation and timing. So says every military service. That's the purpose of the Navigation Technology Satellite – 3 Vanguard from L3 Harris. The NTS-3 is the first U.S. integrated satellite PNT experiment in almost 50 years, says the company. (Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense)
You know what would supercharge development and production of unmanned aircraft systems? That would be 3D printing. Earlier this year, General Atomics teamed with Divergent Technologies to support its additive manufacturing applications development efforts and implement a full digital manufacturing process for GA-ASI’s products. We all have the pleasure of seeing one of their early efforts here on the show floor. (Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense)
Red 6 envisions a future where warfighters across all domains are connected in a joint, augmented battlespace. The company is working to make that happen through its augmented-reality training helmet. (Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense)
The Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie is not necessarily new but what it did recently was news. As part of a three-hour sortie in July, the Air Force Research Laboratory demonstrated for the first time a machine-learning trained, AI algorithms on an XQ-58A Valkyrie. (Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense)
It's both an advanced trainer and now also a light-combat aircraft. The M-346 trainer on the Leonardo booth, which also includes wares from its DRS company in the US, is also flying in a "Fighter Attack" version. (Brendon Smith/Breaking Defense)
Airmen all in a row. Given that they're at the FlightSafety booth, their virtual reality goggles are displaying training like emergency procedures, cockpit familiarization, and traffic pattern operations.
In his AFA 2023 keynote address, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall talked about his plans to "optimize" how the service works. He recently released a memo mentioning broad plans to reorganize the Air Force. Details to come.
Kawasaki is here at AFA but not on two wheels. The C-2 transport model displayed a neat cut-out showing off its cargo capacity.
We spied a first-time visitor to be displayed at an industry show: a model of Northrop Grumman's scramjet engine that powered the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapons Concept (HAWC) missile. Behind it is a Stand-in Attack Weapon for the Air Force.
If looks could kill, Anduril's Fury multi-mission Group 5 autonomous air vehicle certainly fits the bill. Fury's mission is to accelerate the development, testing, and fielding of mission autonomy.
Tucked in a small seating area on the Boeing stand is a model of the E-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft. It's a command-and-control platform for multi-domain awareness.
Missiles a flyin' at AFA; at top left is a Joint Strike Missile from RTX. Also on their booth is an AIM-9X Sidewinder just below, an AIM-120 AMRAAM at top right, and a GBU-53/B StormBreaker glide bomb at bottom right.
It's a surveillance and communications balloon named SHADE (Synchronized High Altitude Distributed Environment) that's designed to "leverage the stratosphere," says SNC. The black bit at the bottom of the model is a solar panel, and many more panels can be added depending on payload.
1/21
Presented by Anduril-logo