- Marietta Molone
- BBC news
The new B-21s use advanced technologies
The US Air Force has unveiled its latest stealth strategic bomber, the B-21, which evades radar, is capable of carrying out nuclear strikes and will replace its predecessor first used during the Cold War.
The cost of the first new bomber of its kind in 30 years could be $700 million per aircraft, and it can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons.
Some of the aircraft’s specifications were kept under wraps, as expected, but US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said it was evidence of US superiority in innovation and originality in military aircraft. .
image copyright Reuters
The US Department of Defense will purchase 100 of the new aircraft
The new B-21 bomber was unveiled Friday at a ceremony at the Northrop Grauman company headquarters in California.
Austin said the new bomber has important advantages that set it apart from bombers used in the air fleet today, and added that “even the most advanced defense systems will have difficulty detecting the B-21 bomber in the air, as it used technology developed in fifty years to make aircraft.” which are not detected by radar systems.
He added that the aircraft was manufactured using “open system technologies,” which allow for new technologies and parts to be added as they are invented in the future.
The aircraft of the aforementioned type are expected to fly the first sorties next year.
These aircraft will replace the B-1 and B-2 and the new fleet is expected to cost $203 billion to develop, procurement and operate over 30 years, according to Bloomberg.
Six aircraft of this type are currently in production, according to the manufacturer, adding that these aircraft will constitute “the new generation of difficult-to-detect aircraft” and that new materials and technologies are used in their manufacture.
The US Air Force plans to purchase at least 100 of these aircraft.
