The B-21 Raider, the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft, unveiled by Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force

Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Air Force have unveiled the B-21 Raider, the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft which has been designed to meet the most complex of missions. Its sixth-generation capabilities include stealth, information advantage and open architecture and the aircraft will form the backbone for the future of U.S. air power, delivering a new era of capability and flexibility through advanced integration of data, sensors and weapons.

“The Northrop Grumman team develops and delivers technology that advances science, looks into the future and brings it to the here and now,” said Kathy Warden, Chair, Chief Executive Officer and President, Northrop Grumman. “The B-21 Raider defines a new era in technology and strengthens America’s role of delivering peace through deterrence.”

The B-21-Raider will form one third of the U.S. nuclear triad, a three-sided military-force structure consisting of land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-missile-armed submarines, and strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs and missiles. The B-21 is capable of networking across the battlespace to multiple systems, and into all domains. Supported by a digital ecosystem throughout its lifecycle, the B-21 can quickly evolve through rapid technology upgrades that provide new capabilities to outpace future threats.

The B-21 Raider is named in honour of the Doolittle Raids of World War II when 80 men, led by Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, and 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers set off on a mission that changed the course of World War II. The designation B-21 recognizes the Raider as the first bomber of the 21st century.