On November 10, the U.S. B-21 Raider strategic bomber made its first test flight. The aircraft, as the only new stealth strategic bomber developed by the United States in the past 30 years, has long been in a highly classified state. Because of this, its every move has always been widely concerned by the outside world, and has also triggered a series of guesses about its battlefield use and strategic impact.

The flight was conducted by two pilots from the Air Force Test Center and the 412th Test Wing, and the aircraft departed from Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale Air Force Base to Edwards Air Force Base. The test flight tested the bomber's range, strike capability and stability. In the next step, Northrop Grumman will complete production of five additional B-21s to form a pilot fleet with the first aircraft and complete tests at Edwards AFB.

For reasons of secrecy, the US military rarely disclosed information about the B-21 bomber, and only gradually unveiled its mystery in recent years at the end of the development of the aircraft.

In January 2020, the U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman released concept drawings of what the B-21 Raider bomber would look like. Last December, the B-21 finally made its official public debut at Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale Air Force Base in California, and people got a real look at the plane.

In terms of technical performance, B-21 bomber adopts flying wing aerodynamic layout and has omnidirectional full spectrum stealth capability. The aircraft has two crew members, a fuselage width of 45.72 meters, an empty weight of about 32 tons, and is equipped with two turbofan engines, with a maximum takeoff weight of about 82 tons, a maximum flight height of 18,000 meters, a maximum range of 8,000 kilometers, and the ability to receive oil in the air. The size of the aircraft is smaller than the active B-2 "ghost" stealth strategic bomber, but it fully inherits the overall design of the B-2 stealth bomber with low detectibility, so it is also known as the "reduced version" of the B-2.

In terms of production and manufacturing, B-21 bomber by the United States Northrop Grumman Corporation R & D and manufacturing, in the United States there are nearly 400 companies in 40 states to provide spare parts, the total cost of development, production will exceed 32 billion US dollars, its production, maintenance costs compared with B-2 greatly reduced, each bomber procurement cost of about 700 million US dollars. This fundamentally avoids the defects of B-2 bomber production, high maintenance costs, which can not be mass-produced, and can not be deployed in overseas bases.

In terms of carrying ammunition, the B-21 bomber can carry about 9 tons of ammunition in the main bomb bin, which can carry multiple guided or unguided airborne conventional munitions and nuclear munitions of the U.S. Air Force in active service, and can also carry a new generation of airborne munitions such as LRSO long-range defense area air-launched nuclear cruise missiles and AGM-183A air-launched hypersonic missiles in the future, so that it has both nuclear and conventional strike capabilities.

In terms of electronic information, the B-21 bomber has strong reconnaissance surveillance, electronic attack and data sharing capabilities, and can act as a communication and data link node on the battlefield.

In response, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin has publicly said that the B-21 "can handle anything from intelligence gathering to combat management." Not only that, the aircraft also has the ability to command and control drones, and can direct multiple drones in the combat area to attack multiple targets in a wide range.

According to Air Force spokesman Stefanek, the B-21 is "a critical step toward enhancing the military potential of long-term, long-range, penetrating strike to deter aggression and strategic strikes against the United States and its Allies and partners." Northrop Grumman also claims that the B-21 is a sixth-generation bomber that is "the foundation of the future of the U.S. Air Force" because it can work with other aircraft and adapt new weapons.

According to the US Air Force disclosure, the B-21 bomber will be formally commissioned in 2026-2027, and put into combat duty in 2027, and the final purchase will reach about 200 aircraft. By 2040, the aircraft will completely replace the B-1B Lancer, B-2 Ghost and B-52, the longest-serving strategic bomber in the U.S. military.

As for the specific deployment location of the first aircraft, the US Air Force and Space Force magazine said that the first batch of operational B-21 bombers will be deployed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, and maintenance work will be carried out at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.