Why Moscow and Washington do not have an urgent need for "invisible" bombers
The first flight of the B-21 Raider strategic bomber, made using stealth technology, will take place next year. This was reported by Northrop Grumman Corporation. Military observer of the Newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok was figuring out at what stage the work on the creation of the B-21 and its Russian competitor - PAK DA, a promising long-range aviation complex.
The presentation of the newest strategic stealth bomber of the US Air Force is expected at the end of 2022, the manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, said in a statement. The first flights of a new aircraft, according to the established tradition in the United States, usually take place a few months after such ceremonies.
Confirmation that the first flight of the B-21 is scheduled for 2023 brings some clarity to the schedule for the creation of a next-generation strategic bomber, the Defense News portal noted, but it also indicates that the initial hopes for a quick first flight of the B-21 from the US Air Force were not justified.
The Pentagon expected to take the B-21 into the air in December 2021. This was stated back in 2019 by former Deputy Chief of Staff General Stephen Wilson.
For the first time, the US Department of Defense announced its intention to conclude a contract for the development of a new long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) with Northrop Grumman Corporation back in 2015.
The B-21 strategic bomber is designed to operate under conditions of use of both conventional and nuclear weapons. According to the manufacturer, this aircraft will have the ability to penetrate deep into enemy territory and survive in the affected areas of modern air defense systems.
Representatives of the US Air Force emphasize that the B-21 strategic bombers are part of the "family of systems", implying that it is a node of a large distributed network of combat vehicles, sensors and communications equipment.
As for the Russian promising strategic bomber (PAK DA, a promising Long-range aviation complex), which can compete with the B-21, there is very little data in open sources on this aircraft.
Now only computer graphics and photographs of the model of the newest Russian strategic bomber are publicly available, which at the stage of experimental design work was known as the "Product-80" under the code "Messenger-1RP-MS".
According to official data, the new generation strategic bomber-missile carrier will be made according to the "flying wing" aerodynamic scheme using stealth technologies, that is, it looks similar to the B-2 and B-21. The Russian PAK DA will presumably be equipped with hypersonic strike and defensive weapons.
Earlier it was reported that the first prototype of the PAK DA is expected in 2021-2022, a trial flight is planned for 2025-2026, and serial deliveries will begin in 2028-2029. Then it was clarified that the preliminary tests of the bomber will take place in April 2023. State tests will be held in February 2026, and by 2027 the car will already enter the series.
"It is quite obvious that the PAK DA for the Russian Armed Forces and the military-industrial complex is currently not a top priority. Today, there is a significant fleet of combat-ready strategic and long-range bombers equipped with Long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces (besides, they are at the stages of significant modernization). There is no imperative need now to take and make a completely new strategic bomber. For example, Russia can produce a prototype of a stealth bomber even today. But when it comes to the series, difficulties of a completely different order await us," he told the newspaper.Ru" Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Ruslan Pukhov.
Nevertheless, the PAK DA program "remains in service", its implementation will continue, sooner or later we will get this bomber, Pukhov added.
- concluded retired Air Force Major General Vladimir Dmitriev.
Mikhail Khodarenok