The new B-21 Raider strategic bomber will be demonstrated in the USA for the first time Tomorrow in the United States, the latest B-21 Raider strategic bomber, made using low radar visibility technologies, will be presented to the general public for the first time.
In America, it is considered a sixth-generation aircraft.
The roll-out (this is the name of such an event) on December 2 of the promising strategic bomber of the US Air Force B-21 Raider represents the first acquaintance of the general public with the newest aircraft, which the developer corporation Northrop Grumman and the US Air Force consider as a leap in the development of aviation technologies.
As the newspaper wrote earlier.Ru", this will be the first public presentation of the new heavy bomber of the US Air Force in 34 years since the debut of the B-2 Spirit in November 1988.
The representative of Northrop Grumman explained that the new capabilities of the B-21 strategic bomber in the field of low radar visibility, the use of open architecture principles and the inclusion of joint all-domain control and control technologies for data exchange between platforms (the so-called JADC2) will make the Raider the first of the sixth generation systems.
The Joint All-Domain Command and Control program is a concept of joint command and control of all domains, which in the United States usually means all possible areas of warfare. The US military understands that this level of command and control is more than just hardware. "These are people, technology, process and politics," said Marine Corps Major General James Adams, a representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces.
The technologies used in the B-21 tests and the Air Force's decision to conduct its flight tests on a production aircraft instead of an experimental model may open the way to faster and less risky purchases of strategic bombers, explains Tom Jones.
As is usually customary in the USA, such an event is held a few months after the presentation. In September, Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that the date of the first flight of the B-21 "will be finally determined based on the results of ground tests."
The first B-21 (numbered 001, designated as T1) will take off from the runway of plant No. 42 in Palmdale (California), then fly to Edwards Air Force Base (there), where flight tests of this machine will take place.
Since spring, Northrop Grumman has been continuing testing the first bomber, making the final assembly of the machine and applying coatings and paints to prepare the machine for rolling out on December 2 this year.
Over the next few months, the first B-21 will undergo additional tests. During this time, representatives of Northrop and the US Air Force must finally make sure that the bomber is ready for its first flight. This stage includes a comprehensive check of all the systems and assemblies of the car, starting the engines, taxiing and running on the runway, as well as other standard integration tests adopted in such cases.
As a rule, during the final implementation of promising aviation programs, the first flight is carried out on a non-serial aircraft. In practice, this means that long periods of testing are required before it comes to mass production of a new machine.
According to Tom Jones, testing the first B-21 Raider, which is very close to the final production version and built on the same production line, will significantly accelerate this process. "I hope that many future purchases of weapons and military equipment will follow this path," explained a representative of Northrop Grumman.
Tom Jones also pointed out that during the work on the new machine, Northrop widely uses digital testing as a way to reduce possible risks and find potential problems in a virtual environment. He added that by conducting such tests, the company was able to identify and eliminate a number of problems even before many systems and assemblies were implemented in the new bomber in hardware.
For example, according to him, calibration tests of real loads, which Northrop completed in May, were closely related to digital models that the corporation had previously conducted. And Northrop engineers used flight simulators and a digital environment to fine-tune many systems and units of the B-21 Raider.
At the moment, six more B-21 strategic bombers are at various stages of final assembly and testing, including the first aircraft designed for flight tests. The second fully assembled B-21 received the designation G1. This machine is intended for ground testing. Northrop has not yet announced when work on the seventh B-21 will begin.
A group of bombers of this type under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle made the famous raid on Tokyo on April 18, 1942. This was the first American air raid on Japan during World War II, which became a kind of response to the attack of Japanese aircraft carrier aircraft on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In honor of this event, a promising American strategic bomber received its name - Raider.
What will the US Air Force get with the adoption of a new strategic bomber into service? This aircraft will be able to successfully carry out combat missions while being in the affected areas of the most modern air defense systems / air defense systems, while remaining invisible to the electronic means of a likely enemy. In addition, the B-21 Raider (taking into account refueling in the air, and in many cases without them) will be able to hit an object of a likely enemy in almost any area of the globe.
The words of the developer corporation Northrop Grumman and the US Air Force that a promising strategic bomber represents a leap in the development of aviation technologies and developments are by no means an exaggeration.
Strategic bombers and in our time remain the most complex systems in aviation. For accurate, fast and reliable delivery of the combat load over a long range and survival in flight, a multi-mode lifting carrier with economical engines and connected together with perfect observation-sight equipment, an aerobatic navigation system, an armament control system and an electronic warfare system is required.
To overcome numerous technical problems and create a modern strategic bomber today is only possible for large teams of developers with high qualifications, experience and outstanding skill, in cooperation with powerful research centers with a unique experimental base and production facilities. This also requires very significant resources.
It is not surprising that in the first years after the Second World War, only three countries could afford to have strategic bombers equipped with national air forces - the USSR, the USA and the UK. In the future, the last of this "troika" dropped out, and now there is a danger that the Americans in the field of developing and adopting promising strategic bombers may remain monopolists.
However, China has recently been persistently knocking on the doors of the club members - owners of strategic aviation - with its promising Xian H-20 bomber, which is believed to be supplied to the PLA Air Force in the mid-2020s. The Chinese car is made in the "flying wing" layout using stealth technologies. The appearance of the Xian H-20 is in many ways similar to the American B-2, but many of the product's characteristics are still kept secret. With a take-off weight of 200 tons, the aircraft will be able to carry up to 45 tons of combat load. The flight range of the Xian H-20 is at least 8 thousand km.
Despite the obvious achievements of Russian designers in the creation of long-range and strategic bombers, heavy bomber aircraft has remained a very small component of the nuclear triad in our country for many years.
As for the Russian promising strategic bomber (PAK DA, a promising Long-range aviation complex), which can compete with the B-21, then, as the Newspaper previously wrote .Ru", there is very little data in open sources on this aircraft.
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.
Despite such optimistic plans and deadlines for the domestic aviation industry, there is every reason to believe that at present the PAK DA is no longer a top priority for the Russian Armed Forces and the military-industrial complex, and all of the above deadlines will be significantly shifted "to the right".
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 to focus all available financial and production capabilities on creating a completely new strategic bomber.
In addition, the financing of the project was greatly influenced by the special military operation in Ukraine. There is every reason to believe that at present the rhythmic allocation of funds for the creation of the PAK DA has been postponed until better times.
Most likely, in the foreseeable future, strategic bombers will be used mainly in local conflicts for non-nuclear strikes on particularly important targets. The long flight range (with almost unlimited refueling) makes these vehicles especially valuable for rapid reaction forces.
Mikhail Khodarenok
