Conventional and nuclear capabilities ... the new American stealth is "the most advanced ever"

The US Air Force is set to unveil its new B-21 Raider stealth bomber at a special ceremony at Northrop Grumman's facility in Palmdale, Calif., on Friday.

"The B-21 is the most advanced military aircraft ever built," Northrop Grumman general manager Doug Young said in a press release.

In 2015, the company won a contract to design and develop the sixth-generation stealth aircraft, to replace the Air Force's aging bomber fleet.

The company was commissioned to manufacture 100 aircraft of this type, at a cost of $692 million each (at 2022 prices), according to the US Air Force website.

The B-21 Raider was named in honor of the "Doolittle Raiders" combat unit of the US Air Force that attacked Japan during World War II on April 18, 1942, which forced the Japanese to call up the fighters to counter the attack, and this attack also contributed to raising morale among Americans. and allies.

"Fox News" said that the company has six aircraft being assembled in Palmdale, and the first B-21 is scheduled to fly in 2023, according to the results of ground tests.

The manufacturing team included 8,000 people from the company and contractors, including 400 suppliers in 40 countries who worked on designing, testing and building the "world's most advanced" attack aircraft, according to the manufacturer's website.

The aircraft was designed, according to the company's website, to carry out long-range missions with the ability to carry a mixture of conventional and nuclear munitions.

The Air Force's website says it is a dual-capable stealth super-aircraft capable of delivering conventional and nuclear munitions, and will form "the backbone of the Air Force's future B-21 and B-52 bomber force."

The company said about it that it is "capable of penetrating the toughest defenses to deliver accurate strikes anywhere in the world."

It describes it as the "future of deterrence" because it will be pivotal in supporting the strategic deterrence strategy, and in addition to directing long-range precision strikes on any target anywhere in the world, it will provide intelligence information through surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic attack capabilities.

The company notes that given that US adversaries continue to invest heavily in cutting-edge technologies, the new bomber is critical to deter such actions, "reassure allies, and keep our nation safe."

The aircraft builds on three decades of stealth technology development, has advanced networking capabilities and open systems, and is considered a digital bomber as it uses the latest software, advanced manufacturing techniques, digital engineering tools, and the cloud environment to store information.

They are also designed to evolve as the threat environment changes. Northrop President Tom Jones said it was "optimized for operations in highly contested environments."

And in 2021, the Air Force announced that Ellsworth Air Force Base, in South Dakota, would be the first major operating base for the new aircraft and its official training unit.