It can also launch nuclear charges.
The newly developed US fighter jet, the B-21 Raider, made its first test flight on Friday, an Air Force spokesman announced.
The heavy bomber, capable of delivering nuclear payloads to its target, took off from Palmdale, California, where developer Northrop Grumman is conducting tests.
Anne StefanikThe spokeswoman said of the test flights that they are a critical step in achieving “a viable, long-range, and penetrating strike force that serves as a deterrent against aggression and planned strategic attacks against the United States, its allies, and partners.”
The B-21 Raider, just like its predecessor the B-2 Spirit, has a V-shaped design integrated with the fuselage, but at the same time it is made of improved materials that improve resistance and is equipped with more advanced technology.
According to plans, 100 units of the new heavy bomber will be produced, in several versions. There will be experimental, ground-controlled and unmanned versions. The B-21 Raider will be the US Air Force’s first newly developed fighter aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost all elements of the program are strictly classified, and are primarily intended to prevent China from learning about the aircraft’s weapons technology and being able to produce a similar model, as happened in the case of the F-35.
The new aircraft, like the B-2 Spirit, will be manufactured by Virginia-based Northrop Grumman. Its predecessor, the B-2 Spirit, made its first flight in 1989 and was first deployed in 1999 to Kosovo. About 135 models were planned to be produced, but in the end only 21 were completed, partly due to the changing geopolitical environment of the early 1990s, and partly due to the very high cost of production.
(MTI)
