Perhaps one of the most important things that have changed in military aviation is stealth aircraft from the first experimental prototype, YF-118G “Bird of Prey,” to this modern B-21 Raider.
Such progress reflects the quest without end for invisibility and domination above.
The “Bird of Prey” was a concept that McDonnell Douglas and Boeing designed in the 1990s.
This aircraft, small enough to be almost a tiny racing car, had been in concept for some years and was always a testbed for “low observable” stealth techniques.
The Bird of Prey was a demonstrator where new methods of aircraft design and construction were tested aircraft flew 38 times at the highly secretive Area 51.
Composite materials and “gapless” control surfaces made a signal reduction in radar visibility.
Its legacy lives on in stealth principles applied to future variants like the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
Flash forward to the present day, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is the new face of strategic bombers of the United States Air Force.
These are being built under the Long Range Strike Bomber program, whose objective is to replace other, older designs of a similar nature, namely B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit.
So far, the specifications of the B-21s have not come through. These bomber planes are both nuke and conventional ammo-bearing.
It was a new test flown in November of 2023. No doubt, it will probably be fully delivered by the middle of 2027.
Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, of Northrop, is now hosting B-21s for it used to be the shelter of the B-2 Bombers.
The first operational unit, stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, is to have a fleet of 100 to 200 aircraft. The development program of this bomber has been less publicized since it has a covered budget and special capabilities.
These advancements in stealth technology do, therefore, pose the strategic necessity to maintain their air superiority. Highly advanced sensors, electronic attack capabilities, and stealth onboard an aircraft such as the F-35 and the B-21, hoist and reveal the status of a powerful asset in modern warfare.
Military aviation’s state of evolution is quite well defined by such legacies as the bird of prey and the promise of the B-21 Raider.