B-21

Major events in aerospace and defense during 2023.

Forecasts, snapshots and military aircraft to watch.

The service is looking at 15% budget increases per year. But if Congress does not pass an appropriations bill, that expected growth will be on hold.

An ongoing software problem haunts Lockheed Martin’s production and modernization agenda for the F-35 as a raft of new competitors hit key milestones in 2024.

A new book takes the wraps off the secret flight-test history of the facility in the Nevada Test and Training Range like no one ever has before. Listen in to hear from author Peter Merlin.

The timing and quality of the Raider’s second sortie may be at least as significant for the secretive U.S. Air Force program as the first, if not more.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The bomber’s public first flight kicks off an intensive test campaign and more funding for Northrop Grumman.

Video confirms the flying-wing aircraft has a simple W-shape trailing edge and reveals an extremely clean design with an almost featureless underside.

Readers write about Bill Sweetman’s recent B-21 cover story, AAM market appeal, U.S. military drone swarm acquisition and supersonic transport challenges.

The Pentagon wants to build a new nuclear gravity bomb, aiming to modernize part of its strategic stockpile by replacing one of the most potent variants of its B61.

The start of moving ground tests for the Northrop Grumman B-21 provides another milestone on the path to a scheduled first flight by the end of this year.

The Pentagon’s nuclear posture is not capable of deterring both China and Russia simultaneously, a new report says.

New details reveal the heritage embedded in the new U.S. bomber design.

A microcutaway of what we think we know about features on the U.S. Air Force’s next stealth bomber.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Northrop Grumman is starting tests on the next stealth bomber, while industry is floating multiple concepts for collaborative combat aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force is giving the public new peeks at its secretive B-21 Raider bomber.

The digital transfer to the aircraft from the B-2’s Advanced Communications ground station automates a function that required crews to manually input the data.

The service is evaluating the Boeing-developed Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon.

Editors discuss Northrop's exit from the U.S. Air Force’s competition to replace the F-22 and the implications of L3Harris’ acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Nearly all schedule details about the B-21 Raider are classified, but the U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman have now provided four completed milestones.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on July 27 approved its $831.8 million defense spending bill for 2024.

Northrop's move leaves Boeing and Lockheed Martin as the likely surviving bidders for the fighter at the heart of the Next Generation Air Dominance program.

The service seeks shift from one-for-one replacement of KC-135s and C-17s to a series of aircraft, from the basic to the exquisite.