Unveiling America's Stealthiest Plane: What the B-21 Raider and YF-23 Grey Ghost Have in Common

Last week Northrop released two new photos of the B-21 Raider. Let's take a look at what we can learn from these photos and why the Raider may be more like the YF-23 Gray Ghost than you might think.

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Photography and Video Credits/Attributions:
"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."
Department of Defense
Boeing
Lockheed Martin
Northrop Grumman

Eurofighter Typhoon Intake and YF-23 Black Widow II intake photo:

#b21raider #grayghost #YF23 #northropgrumman

[seanbrazell]

A significant reduction in the fragility of its stealth coating would cut down the lifetime cost of operation massively all by itself. Another fantastic video.

[Yuki_Ika]

the YF-23 is my favorite Fighter of all time and the B-21 is shaping up to be my favorite bomber of all time (tied with the F-111 of course), Lockheed Martin is great but Northrop Grumman just Does Stealth BETTER, Thanks for all the fish!

[alexdunphy]

The white paint job could also just be a paint job. They wouldn't necessarily need to show off the newest stealth coating of delivered, combat ready plane. They could be throwing out a red herring

[terminalarray]

A fully modular design, coupled with broadband stealth (from VHF to infrared), and the insane range that gives it the ability to strike anywhere without being stored in theater is actually frightening. There could be different payloads and loadouts for different missions. One B-21 could be setup for carrying Hypersonic ALCM, another could be an Electronic Warfare focused vehicle, and another could be a pure bomb truck carrying precision bombs. It's insane.

[bdh]

Very much enjoyed your analysis of this awesome machine. I have to wonder if what we are seeing is the production version, or more of a "YB-21" pre-production/EMD aircraft. As usual, my only real "criticism" of the video is that it wasn't longer! keep up the great work!

[regarded]

You make extremely high quality videos, glad I found this channel

[jamesvermillion]

As much as my respect for Jack Northrup and his design ideas, I love the reference to the Galaxies Guide. I am proud of the B-2 Spirit, YF-23Grey Ghost and feel that Jack would love the B-21 Raider. Wish that I could have been Norcrafter, very talented people.

[teddy.d]

Another brilliant video with amazing graphics and excellent, informative analysis as always. NG has done a fantastic job with this program thus far, looking forward to seeing this beauty fly!

[ilkoderez]

Love the channel and I _LOVE_ the B-21. It's a beautiful aircraft and it's exactly what America needs.

[BMF]

42 is most likely also a reference to the Doolittle Raid on Japan in 1942 and also why the name of the B-21 is Raider.

[appa]

3:59 You can see the F-35's DSI's create a bunch of surface normals not otherwise present on the aircraft. In general, any surface normal on a conductor is a direction radar can see you. I'm thinking Lockheed made this bump out of fiberglass like the radome so that RF bounces off the flat aluminum face underneath.

[susanartigas]

Very informative and like always an excellent video. Thank you!

[cajoke]

I love your two videos that you have done on the B-21 Raider. Please keep doing more!

[gravyd]

Low level is a must but I don't get why there aren't at least two models. They sacrificed a lot for the F-35b. I'm also hearing rumors about the Raider having swarm logic drone capability. A bomber in control of it's own escorts is a great idea.

[NoPulseForRussians]

42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life 😂

[scottnj]

Great analysis and presentation Tog. You're on the cutting edge with this one. Bravo Zulu!

[davidsinwestholl]

GREAT JOB! One of your best videos. I loved the comparison & contrasts w/ the first B-2 Spirit side-by-side w/ the B-21 Raider. Adding the YF-23 in the mix was insightful. I know the YF-23 got the short end of the stick in the original competition. In order to keep up "healthy competition" between these 2 titans, Lockheed "won" b/c they had nothing going on in their hopper. Northrup had the B-2 and the F-18E/F. So if the only criteria was which prototype would be better, Northrup would have won. Lockheed had nothing going on, so the DoD threw them a bone (to keep them busy?)

[amcds]

Another great video. Thanks for the update!

[raymondtuckerjr]

Excellent and informative video. Look forward to more. Thank you.

[stewarttomkinson]

Thanks for all the fish the ultimate question