MANUFACTURE OF FIRST TWO B-21 RAIDERS COMPLETED

摘要

FURTHER SIGNIFICANT progress is being made with the new Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber with the revelation on June 8 by Darlene Costello, the US Air Force's Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, that the first two prototypes have now been completed at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The milestone was announced during a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on projection forces, when Costello was providing an update on the B-21 program. Costello said these first two aircraft are now ready for testing, but cautioned that it is too early to consider accelerating the program. However, following completion of the already announced plans to retire 17 of the current B-1B Lancers, all of the remaining 45 will continue in service until a sufficient number of the new B-21 s are fully operational. This contradicts previous USAF suggestions that further B-1 Bs could be retired before the B-21 enters service.