Air Force leaders gave an update on the B-21 Raider, a futuristic aircraft that is expected to become the United States' next nuclear stealth bomber.
The aircraft can deliver both "conventional and nuclear munitions," according to a news release from the Air Force, but will be "critical to deterring conflict" around the world. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, said the stealth bomber will help the United States keep pace with threats worldwide.
"We are the free world's only bomber force. ... Nobody on the planet can do what we're doing right now," Bussiere said, adding that there will likely be an increased demand for the support the stealth bomber can provide in the coming years.
Currently, the stealth bomber remains in the test flight stage, and is doing two such flights a week, according to Thomas Jones, the Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems sector president. A photo shared by the Air Force shows one of the bombers during flight testing.
"We're really starting to strike up quite a cadence ... when we started this journey, we made a vow that we were going to design this system to be a daily flyer," Jones said, according to the release. "It's been a phenomenal year of progress, and we hope to continue that through the next year."
A recent notable test confirmed the stealth bomber's structural design and integrity, according to officials. The plane is now going through a fatigue testing campaign.
Once the planes are tested, some of the aircraft will be delivered to the Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to help train Air Force squadrons on the stealth bomber. When the B-21 enters the service, this site will be the main operating base for the stealth bomber.
Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri will be a secondary base, and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas a third.
The stealth bomber is set to replace the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers in the Air Force's fleet.
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