We get an opportunity to have one other have a look at the B-21 Raider.
On Dec. 2, 2022, the B-21 Raider, U.S. Air Power’s subsequent era stealth bomber, was lastly unveiled throughout a roll out ceremony at Northrop Grumman’s facility at the USA Air Power Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. What we highlighted again then is that we weren’t allowed any facet or planform views of the sixth era plane.
Nonetheless, the entrance view allowed us to get some fascinating particulars concerning the secretive bomber destined to interchange the B-1 and B-2 fleets.
As we reported, because the plane was being unveiled:
- The overall form is much like the one of many B-2 though the B-21 might be smaller in dimension (not as small as we had been anticipating)
- B-21 vanguard exhibits totally different design idea than the B-2
- We are able to’t fully assess the form of the “hawk’s-beak” profile, though it appears much like what proven within the latest rendering and fewer pronounced than the one of many Spirit.
- The B-21 options totally different inlets config (and blended conformal engine nacelles we are able to’t see from the entrance angle). The hd model of the entrance photograph launched by the U.S. Air Power reveal a splitter plate within the inlet.
- The B-21 has a two-wheel MLG (Essential Touchdown Gear)
- MLG and Nostril Gear doorways: MLG doorways are usually not trapezoidal however present serrated edges whereas the nostril gear door is serrated and never hooked up to the gear leg however on the fitting facet of the bay.
- The Raider has a brand new four-pieces windscreen, just like the Spirit, however with a really totally different form for the 2 lateral home windows. The facet home windows look like arched and narrower than those within the entrance (about half the peak).
- The colour appears to be a light-weight grey (just like the RQ-180)
- There’s a small brand in entrance of the nostril gear wheel bay that seems to be the stylized Northrop Grumman Flight check badge that additionally seems on the X-47B proper wing.
Two new photographs, taken on Nov. 28, 2022 (that’s to say, a couple of days earlier than the official roll-out) however launched solely at the moment, present some extra particulars concerning the new plane. One, specifically offers a view from an elevated viewpoint of the plane, that permits us to see that the planform might be not a cranked arrow wing much like the one of many X-47B, as some shadows within the first official photos appeared to counsel.
The stylized Northrop Grumman Flight check badge can be utilized on the higher floor of the fitting hand facet wing (near the tip); the USAF roundel is on the left one. Some “panels” are proven within the exhaust space of the plane, however the blended conformal engine nacelles are nonetheless not clearly seen.
The upper angle view offers a greater view of the brand new inlets (regardless of the duvet), that seem to have a really small frontal part however are bigger than they initially appeared (a part of the inlet appears to be recessed on the higher floor of the wing, forming a form of “L”).
The opposite picture, is an in depth up photograph of the B-21’s nostril that exhibits the “hawk’s-beak” profile of the brand new bomber: from a 3/4 viewpoint, this appears to be fairly much like the one of many B-2.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based mostly in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and browse army aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and lots of others, masking aviation, protection, conflict, business, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with totally different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Power, a non-public pilot and a graduate in Laptop Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.
