B-21 Raider
America's next stealth bomber, designed to reach targets deep inside modern air defenses.
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ROLE
Penetrating stealth bomber for nuclear and conventional strikes deep inside defended airspace.
STRENGTHS
- Designed for today's integrated air defenses
- Planned fleet of at least 100 aircraft
- Replaces two bomber types with one
WEAKNESSES
- Still in testing
- Our analysis: expensive and slow to build in large numbers
- Our analysis: survivability against long-wavelength radars is the open question
The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber in more than thirty years. It first flew in November 2023 from Palmdale, California, and is planned to replace both the B-1B and the B-2.
The Air Force plans at least 100 aircraft. Its value rests on one question the channel keeps returning to: can a stealth bomber still survive the layered air defenses China has built around the Taiwan Strait?
Read the analysis
AIR · BOMBERSThe B-21 is coming. Why spend $21 billion on the B-52?