America’s newest bomber, the B-21 Raider, is undergoing test flights, and the Air Force has released new images of the sleek, UFO-shaped airplane taking to the skies as officials aim to have it enter service in a few years.
Newly released images, shared by the Air Force last week, show the bomber going through test flights from Edwards Air Force Base in California. The B-21 Raider was publicly unveiled in December 2022, marking the first bomber to enter the U.S. fleet in more than 30 years.
While many of the details behind the B-21’s capabilities are not publicly known, the service said in a news release that the bomber is “the first aircraft that is more digital than not” and that the test flights have been giving officials insight into a wide range of possible uses.
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“It is doing what flight test programs are designed to do, which is helping us learn about the unique characteristics of this platform, but in a very, very effective way,” Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 8, adding the program is on track to meet its deadlines.
The new B-21 Raider is slated to eventually replace the existing B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers in the Air Force’s fleet, a major task as some of those aging aircraft face ongoing issues.
