The United States Air Force has released stunning new images of its new nuclear-capable B-21 Raider bomber, the first of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

The stealth bomber of the next generation was publicly announced at the ceremony Art California last December.

Two new photos of the B-21 Raider were unveiled Tuesday at the 2023 Air Force and Space Symposium in Aurora, Colorado.

At the event, Air Force Global Strike Commander Thomas A. Busier called the ship “the future backbone of the bomber fleet.”

The United States will have at least 100 nuclear-capable B-21 Raiders at its disposal when they debut, which Busier said will happen sometime in the mid-2020s.

Two new photos of the B-21 Raider were unveiled Tuesday at the 2023 Air Force and Space Symposium in Aurora, Colorado

The actual cost of the B-21 is unknown. It is projected to cost $550 million in 2010 and $750 million in 2023, adjusted for inflation. Fox News.

The B-21s won’t actually take flight until 2024. In the long term, the US Air Force hopes to have at least 220 of them to replace the aging B-1 and B-2 bombers.

The service estimated the program would likely cost at least $203 billion over 30 years to develop, procure and maintain the B-21 fleet.

The B-21 is part of the Pentagon’s effort to modernize all three links of its nuclear triad, which also includes nuclear-launched ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it transitions from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to China’s fast-moving military weapon. modernization.

China is on track to have 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035, and its advances in hypersonic technology, cyberwarfare and space capabilities pose “the most serious and systemic challenge to US national security and the free and open international system,” it said. The Pentagon this week in its annual report on China.

The pentagon officials and representatives of contractor Northrop Grumman displayed the B-21 Raider in a dramatic ceremony in Palmdale, California in early December.

As the aircrew pulled back the tarpaulin covering the folding bomber, the crowd of invited guests, excited to see the aircraft for the first time after years of waiting, cheered.

The ceremony began with the flyover of three American bombers that are still in service: the B-52 Stratofortress, the B-1 Lancer and the B-2 Spirit. The hangar doors then slowly opened and the B-21 was partially towed out of the building.

Pentagon officials and representatives from contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled the B-21 Raider (seen under a large tarp) in a dramatic ceremony in Palmdale, Calif., on Friday night

Each B-21, which can deliver both conventional and nuclear bombs, is projected to cost about $550 million each in 2010 dollars, or about $750 million in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars.

Similar in shape to the B-2, a “flying wing” design already in service with the Air Force, the B-21 will also be able to deliver nuclear weapons around the world due to long-range and mid-air refueling capability.

“This is not just another plane,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “It epitomizes America’s resolve to defend the republic we all love.”

“This is not just another plane,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “It epitomizes America’s resolve to defend the republic we all love.”

Similar in shape to the B-2, a “flying wing” design already in service with the Air Force, the B-21 is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear weapons around the world thanks to the possibility of long-distance and in-air refueling.

Dubbed a “sixth-generation bomber,” each B-21 is projected to cost about $550 million each in 2010 dollars, or about $750 million in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars.

Northrop calls the aircraft sixth-generation, given its ability to connect to other aircraft and easily integrate future weapons into its system architecture.

Other changes include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, Austin said.

“Fifty years of advances in low-level surveillance technology have gone into this aircraft,” Austin said. “Even the most sophisticated air defense systems would have difficulty detecting a B-21 in the sky.”

Other advances are likely to include new ways to control electronic emissions so the bomber can spoof enemy radars and disguise itself as another object, as well as the use of new propulsion technologies, several defense analysts said.

Doug Young, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, told Reuters in an interview that it also has a more durable, low-visibility surface material that requires less maintenance and minimizes operating costs and downtime.

“This aircraft is made possible by American innovation,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the ceremony.

As the aircrew pulled back the tarpaulin covering the folding bomber, a crowd of invited guests, excited to see the aircraft for the first time after years of waiting, cheered

Pentagon officials and representatives of contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled the B-21 Raider in a dramatic ceremony in Palmdale, Calif., on Friday night

A crowd of guests are seen at the opening ceremony where they saw the plane for the first time

The U.S. Air Force finally unveiled its secretive B-21 stealth bomber on Friday in Palmdale, California, which is touted as being virtually “invisible” to all enemy stealth radars and will include the latest in military technology

While the Raider may resemble the B-2, once you get inside, the similarities stop, said Cathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop, which builds the bomber.

“The internal way of working is extremely advanced compared to the B-2 because the technology has advanced so much in terms of computing capabilities that we can now build into the software of the B-21,” Worden said.

Northrop beat out a team made up of Boeing and Lockheed Martin when it won the contract in 2015 to build the bomber alongside suppliers including engine maker Pratt & Whitney, Collins Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, BAE Systems and Spirit Aerosystems.

Northrop’s Plant 42 in Palmdale has released the first photos of the new bomber. So far, only images of the artists have been published.

The six aircraft, which are due to take their first flight in mid-2023, are in various stages of assembly. Today, more than 8,000 people from Northrop Grumman, industry partners and the Air Force work on the program, which consists of more than 400 suppliers in 40 states.