(NewsNation) — The Air Force this week showed off what is set to be the nation’s next nuclear stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, releasing new video of the aircraft conducting a test flight.
Recently, the B-21 completed the essential static test — meaning the structural design of the aircraft is sound. Next, it’s going to go through a fatigue testing campaign, with the program preparing to deliver the aircraft to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.
Ellsworth will be the first B-21 main operating base. The program has a minimum production goal of 100 aircraft. Unveiled in 2022, the B-21 is set to replace the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers as the backbone of the Air Force’s future bomber force.
The U.S. military has been working on the B-21 Raider for years, and the Air Force says it will give the service unparalleled capabilities.
Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Commander, said in a statement that America has the “free world’s only bomber force.”
“We’re probably not going to see a decreased demand signal from our regional combatant commands on bomber task forces,” Bussiere said. “That demand signal, in my opinion, is only going to go up in the years ahead.”