Whiteman AFB Chosen As Second Home for B-21 Raider

As everyone knows by now, the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber is being retired and replaced with the Northup Grumman's B-21 Raider.

Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota is the first B-21 main operating base and location of the Formal Training Unit.

The plan is to produce six or seven B-21s per year. The program is estimated to cost around $700 million. A total of 100 B-21s are likely to be purchased by the government over the next several years.

According to Defense One, Northrop has lost more than $1 billion on the first B-21 aircraft produced, which are part of five “Low Rate Initial Production” (LRIP) contracts, with a fixed-price clause that forces Northup Grumman to eat cost overruns. The US Air Force has requested $2.7 billion for the program in fiscal 2025.

The B-2 arrived at Whiteman AFB in 1993. The United States Air Force has 19 B-2s in service as of 2024; one was destroyed in a 2008 crash in Guam and another was lost to a crash in 2022. The Air Force plans to operate them until 2032.

The B-21 first flew in November. Republican Congressman Mark Alford made the B-21/WAFB announcement on Tuesday.

It's important to note that the B-21 will not be operational until sometime around 2025.

Until then, rest assured, you will still see B-2's flying around the mid-Missouri area (and much further beyond) in the near future.

According to the US Air Force, the B-21 Raider will be a dual-capable penetrating strike stealth bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.

The B-21 will form the backbone of the future Air Force bomber force consisting of B-21s and B-52s. Designed to operate in tomorrow’s high-end threat environment, the B-21 will play a critical role in ensuring America’s enduring airpower capability.

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The B-21 Raider will be a component of a larger family of systems for conventional Long Range Strike, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, electronic attack, communication and other capabilities.

It will be nuclear capable and designed to accommodate manned or unmanned operations. Additionally, it will be able to employ a broad mix of stand-off and direct-attack munitions.

The B-21 is being designed with open systems architecture to reduce integration risk and enable competition for future modernization efforts to allow for the aircraft to evolve as the threat environment changes.

CUTLINE: The B-21 Raider was initially unveiled to the public at a ceremony held Dec. 2, 2022, in Palmdale, Calif. Designed to operate in tomorrow's high-end threat environment, the B-21 will play a critical role in ensuring America's enduring airpower capability. (U.S. Air Force photo)