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And the Pentagon likes the B-2 so much that they've developed a successor, the B-21: "By September 2024, three test aircraft were in service: one performing on
by hollerith 1y ago
And the Pentagon likes the B-2 so much that they've developed a successor, the B-21:
"By September 2024, three test aircraft were in service: one performing one or two flight tests per week, and the others involved in ground tests."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-21_Raider#Flight_and_testing:~:text=By%20September%202024%2C%20three%20test%20aircraft%20were%20in%20service%3A%20one%20performing%20one%20or%20two%20flight%20tests%20per%20week%2C%20and%20the%20others%20involved%20in%20ground%20tests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-21_Raider#F....
- mmooss 1y agoEventually you need new a new plane; that doesn't mean the old one is a failure. The US has only ~20 B-2s, to go with ~60 B-52s (originally built in the 1950s), and ~40 B-1Bs (~1980s tech). Only the B-2 could survive war with a peer, afaik; that was fine after the Cold War when there was no peer threat but now that China is a near-peer threat, the US needs many more bombers capable in a peer conflict and the B-2 production line was shut down decades ago (production was discontinued when the Cold War ended). They plan to build the B-21 in much larger numbers. Also, the B-21 was built for conflict with China, where distances are much greater than in Europe.
- hollerith 1y agoOh, I wasn't being sarcastic: I was trying to convey that B-2 has been a great success (at least in the eyes of the Pentagon). The B-21 looks almost exactly like the B-2 (but is half the size / weight).