Speed up B-21 Raider stealth bombers to counter China
She s nicknamed Spartan The second B- Raider stealth bomber fittingly flew on Sept from its factory in the high desert of Palmdale California to adjacent Edwards Air Force Base The B- Raider is the the bulk sophisticated bomber in the world and America s first sixth-generation stealth warplane Two more sixth-gen planes the Air Force s F- fighter and a secret carrier-based fighter for the Navy are also in the works However with the flight of Spartan coming on top of continued flight tests of the first B- Cerberus the Air Force bomber is making astonishing progress Nicknames from the men and women of the production line and flight test teams tell you how special these mammoth bombers are Infused with AI and revolutionary aerodynamics they are almost like sentient beings CHINA'S CURRENCY COUP HOW BEIJING IS TARGETING AMERICA'S WALLET AND FUTURE With the arrival of the second B- Raider our flight test campaign gains substantial momentum Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed in a massive understatement The B- Raider is the replacement for the fleet of just B- Spirit stealth bombers that blew up Iran s nuclear facilities in June Within the enormous drab beige hangar of Plant in Palmdale there are at least five and maybe as a large number of as more B- s in various stages of final assembly on the production line Components like the Pratt and Whitney high-bypass turbofan engines come from aerospace suppliers all over the country Thanks to Spartan also known as Tail you can see a lot more about how the B- Raider will function First she s grey several shades lighter than the all-black B- The B- is curved and shaped of carbon graphite composite materials not sheet metal Notice the B- has no tail or tube-like fuselage The B- is a pure flying wing with engines nestled inside along with the fuel tanks and bomb bay TRUMP'S TARIFFS FORCE CHINA TO FEEL THE HEATThe design is highly efficient for long-range flight at altitudes of perhaps feet Control in flight is achieved with program making continuous tiny inputs to the pitch and trim of the B- You can spot the sets of four identical sensors under the pointy nose of the B- that feed quad-redundant flight control system Worried about Chinese spies with radar detectors watching these B- flights Don t Stealth aircraft often strap on a Luneberg lens passive radar reflector to brighten up radar return and thus hide the B- s true characteristics In combat stealth mode even the navigation lights retract Next up for the B- weapons and mission systems tests Meink explained The B- will continue signature verification check out its onboard radars and electronic warfare systems and prepare for weapons release tests Expect to see photos soon of the B- flying around with bomb bay doors open At various point they ll test out the cockpit s small heat ring for hot dogs or soup and the five-gallon chemical toilet All the comforts crews expect in a stealth bomber when flying -hour missions FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS AMERICA IGNORES CHINA S RISING RED TIDEMore B- s can t come soon enough America is running short on stealth bombers With just B- s left the need for a big operational fleet of B- Raiders is intense Operation Midnight Hammer threw seven B- s at Iran for just one strike Do the math For a credible deterrent strategy against Russia China North Korea and who knows what else America necessities enough B- s to repeat strikes in multiple locations Don t forget the B- will fulfill two roles nuclear deterrence in the Triad plus global conventional strikes against targets ranging from bad guy nuclear sites to mobile missiles and enemy ships As the strike on Iran presented stealth bombers are the only tools for the job when it comes to massive ordnance strikes CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONWith Tail up and flying the smart move for President Donald Trump would be to open a second B- production line to take advantage of the thriving line and threshold in the aerospace industrial base When Northrop Grumman won the B- contract in the penny-pinching Obama Pentagon planned to buy the B- at the leisurely rate of four or five per year for years to procure a fleet of That was before China s nuclear acceleration the Russia-China alliance Putin s nuclear posturing and North Korea s progress with solid-fueled nuclear missiles The B- has been a roaring success in terms of production Because it has experienced so scarce problems the B- has shocked Washington D C by coming in under budget across the five-year defense plan according to an Aviation Week overview I know of no other major initiative running so efficiently The B- Raider keeps the U S Air Force miles ahead of rivals Russia flew its Tu- M bombers during the Zapad military exercises last week Vladimir Putin s bombers have been upgraded but they are far from stealthy The Chinese H- K bombers that pester Guam are still of the old jetliner design carrying long-range conventional or nuclear missiles under the wings where their radar signature glares China can t sweep the Pacific while the B- is on guard Count on Spartan Cerberus and the new fleet of B- Raider bombers to maintain America s deterrent advantage for decades to come CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REBECCA GRANT
