The B-21 Raider And The Future Of The Air Force Bomber Force

The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is the Air Force's new stealth bomber. Slated to begin flight tests in 2023, the secretive aircraft was revealed to the public in December 2022. Capable of nuclear and conventional missions, the Air Force plans to use the B-21 to replace an aging bomber force over the coming decades.

"The B-21 looks very similar to the B-2 because the fundamentals of stealth and long-range penetrating air are built around the concept of a flying wing," said Doug Young, vice president and general manager, strike division at Northrop Grumman. "And that even goes back to the YB-49 jet when Jack Northrop actually created some of the first flying wings.'

Watch the video above to find out more about the new high-tech stealth bomber slated to fly in 2023.

Producer: Brad Howard
Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen
Animations: Alex Wood
Additional Reporting: Morgan Brennan, Jonathan Kim

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The B-21 Raider And The Future Of The Air Force Bomber Force

[jacobsacres]

I work as a machinist in the aerospace industry. At my previous employer I made a handful of different part numbers for the new B-21, mostly titanium. We were told we got a contract for a new aircraft, they speculated a new bomber but we were told nothing else. So for a few years we started producing these parts, mostly on 5-axis milling centers. An insane amount of time, effort, money and tooling went into just what we produced. And to know that these aircraft consist of thousands of complex individual parts, that all require a high level of precision, really is a testament to the human spirit to create. Its amazing. Now I can say with certainty that the aircraft shown in this video has a few parts that I manufactured and inspected with my own hands. Pretty cool feeling to see it complete because when you’re manufacturing individual parts, they feel inconsequential. Just “widgets” for “who knows what.” Well here it is. Very proud to be apart of it, even with my role being small and relatively insignificant.

[kali]

I love how these B-21 videos gives a bunch of information on everything but the B-21.

[Kanji_uwu_zizyx]

I remember my grandfather worked on the electrical systems of the B2 spirit with Northrop, although at the time he didn't know what he was working on it's still cool to see his reaction to the B21

[chaosfenix]

Wow they quoted Sandboxx news a ton in this one. I love his videos.

[WindowsR]

B2: “guess my successor is here”
B52: “so what’s going to happen to me now?”
USAF: “you..will stay for a couple more decades”

[Filiperican]

The aircraft's flying saucer-shaped silhouette will surely never cause confusion!

[xionglin]

the cool codes from 2:10 are actually just webpage code for a cancel button lmao

[tluangasailo]

Sandboxx Alex holling has got to be one of the best military analyst especially Aviation & missiles

[ckmodele]

3:34 made my eyes water. I'll never complain about my phone being complicated again

[kobyschechter]

It really is mind boggling how each B2 costs more than TWO BILLION DOLLARS. Most modern sporting venues are usually ONE billion to build.

[thinukawijerathne]

Amazing piece of art and technology. The U.S is always ahead of its game

[thunderbm]

Autonomous capabilities!? Glad to see we are actively building skynet.

[sferris]

Interesting. I would like to see how the US can really build our infrastructure just as well.

[meee]

God I miss Skunkworks. When people kept secrets and didn't have an Apple Ipod level event announcing our technology directly to our enemies. We have become painfully stupid.

[Kattakam]

Thank you for an amazing capture of the US Air Force mission with the B-21.

[matthewnelson]

The Origin of this Technology has always been a mystery to me ... The Level of Top Secret Clearance just to even get access to that kind of information makes it all the more intriguing !

[nicholashatcher]

So proud to have this instead of healthcare and a good education system. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[jolness]

Hey, Alex from Sandboxx news! He does great work.

[kashsres]

That F16 on the wall was a cool picture.

[Draykshaper]

6:21 "If you lose 30 B-52s to conduct a mission, even though the B-52 is a cheaper aircraft, you still lost a ton of money and time."

I was immediately struck by the fact that the 5-person crew of a B-52 wasn't even worth a mention here. Ouch.