04 December 2022

So, They Have Rolled Out the B-21


A little different


A quick list of the obvious differences

Rather unsurprisingly, it looks very similar to its immediate predecessor, the B-2 Spirit.

The most obvious differences are that the engine intakes protrude less, changes to the glazing, probably to improve ease of aerial refueling, and a lighter landing gear, implying a lower gross weight and/or a lower landing speed.

It's clear that the inlets were the product of extensive CFD analysis not available in the late 1980s.

Doubtless, it will be more durable and less maintenance intensive than the B-2, given the issues with the predecessor.

My guess would be that it will do better at things like flying in the rain, which has been an issue with its predecessor.

It will be replacing the B-1 & B-2:

The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman on Dec. 2 introduced to the world the next generation of stealth, a new strategic bomber built after the Cold War for a new focus on potential conflict in the vast ranges of the Pacific.

The B-21 Raider, rolled out at the company’s secretive Plant 42 complex about 34 years after a similar ceremony for its predecessor the B-2, is an evolution for the company’s stealthy flying wing shape. The aircraft has a new generation of low observable technology, in a lighter paint scheme than the B-2 and what appears to be elongated wings and lower profile inlets contributing to a stealth that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says will get through any enemy’s air defenses.

………

Brown says the Air Force is still targeting a buy of 100 of the aircraft, with deliveries starting in the mid-2020s. It is slated to replace the B-2 and B-1B, and serve as the “backbone” of the bomber fleet alongside modernized B-52s. During the national anthem at the ceremony, a B-52, B-1 and B-2 flew over the crowd in that order. 

………

To overcome the obvious disadvantage of embedding the inlets within the lifting flowfield above the wing, designers appear to have made extensive use of computational fluid dynamics to merge the varying supercritical airfoil surfaces ahead of the inlet and inside the nacelle itself.

Needless to say, this is largely irrelevant, and a waste of money.

All that strategic bombers will do is make the rubble bounce after a missile exchange.

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