Currently, five strategic stealth B-21 Raider bombers are being built at the Northrop Grumman plant in Palmdale, California, the American edition of The Drive reports, citing a statement by the Minister of the Air Force (Air Force) USA by Frank Kendall.
The publication admits that the first such aircraft will take to the air in late spring or early summer next year. The first B-21 Raider, which are considered the "killers" of the Russian S-500 "Prometheus" systems, should receive the Ellsworth base in South Dakota in the middle of the decade, then the Whiteman (Missouri) and Dice (Texas) bases. According to The Drive, the new bombers are "the highest priority for the Ministry of Defense and the Air Force."
In July, the US Air Force showed a new image of the promising strategic stealth bomber B-21 Raider, in January called by Popular Mechanics magazine the "coolest" aircraft in the world.
In June, The National Interest magazine wrote that the B-21 Raider will be invulnerable to the promising Russian S-500 Prometheus anti-aircraft missile systems.
In May, The Drive reported that Frank Kendall supported the Pentagon's acquisition of 145 B-21 Raider units.
According to Popular Mechanics, this strategic bomber will be able to carry conventional and nuclear weapons, for example, corrected ammunition Joint Directed Attack Munition (JDAM) and AGM-158 Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), as well as B83 and B61-12 nuclear bombs.
Ivan Potapov