Key refueling-related exams for the B-21 Raider are actually underway, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Defense One, the most recent milestone in the direction of delivering the next-generation bomber by 2027.
On Tuesday, a number of open-source intelligence accounts and airplane spotters posted images of a B-21 approaching a KC-135 tanker over California. One account cited flight radar data indicating that the tanker was from Edward Air Force Base’s 370th Flight Test Squadron. Other images and videos confirmed the bomber being adopted by an F-16 fighter jet.
“We can confirm that a B-21 Raider flight test aircraft completed a test event involving a close-proximity flight with a KC-135 Stratotanker,” the spokesperson mentioned in an emailed assertion. “This flight is part of the ongoing, rigorous test campaign to validate the B-21’s capabilities and operational readiness.”
The B-21’s newest look comes as President Trump’s battle in Iran stretches into its second week and the U.S. Air Force’s present long-range bomber fleet continues to hit Iranian missile sites and different navy infrastructure. The first Raider is scheduled to be delivered subsequent yr, however some protection specialists mentioned this system’s current progress would possibly imply key milestones can be hit before anticipated.
“It’s a great sign that, once again, what we’ve been hearing now for a few years is the program is on track and on time, maybe even ahead of schedule,” mentioned Mark Gunzinger, the Mitchell Institute’s director of future ideas and functionality assessments.
Gunzinger, a former B-52 bomber pilot, mentioned the shut strategy of a B-21 to a tanker is a key preliminary step.
“When you have a new aircraft, you do proximity testing, you approach the refueling envelope, and you do that multiple times.” Gunzinger mentioned. “You practice emergency breakaways from a tanker, which is a standard training event for all aircrew before you actually come in contact. So, that will likely progress until it’s actually hooking up and unhooking, hooking up and so forth. And then they actually will pass fuel.”
Last month, the service reached a deal with Northrop Grumman to speed up B-21 bomber manufacturing by 25 p.c, utilizing $4.5 billion authorized for the hassle in the 2025 reconciliation spending invoice.
While the unique plan was to spend that funding over 5 years, the Defense Department plans to allocate all of it by October “if that can be done without sacrificing effectiveness,” a Pentagon planning doc obtained by Defense One final month mentioned.
Air Force officers mentioned the service stays “on track” to ship the primary B-21 Raider in 2027 to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, which is able to function the bomber’s first foremost working base and formal coaching unit.
New tanker?
While the service prepares for a brand new bomber, a timeline for a brand new refueling tanker is much less clear. The KC-135, seen refueling the B-21 by airplane spotters, has been in service because the late Fifties. Last yr, the Air Force weighed maintaining the tanker in service previous its initially deliberate 2050 retirement date.
Lt. Gen. Reba Sonkiss, the interim head of Air Mobility Command, told reporters final month that the service wants to noticeably focus on what the long run substitute for its growing old tankers can be, on condition that they’ll be supporting next-generation airframes just like the B-21.
“I cannot have a 90-year-old tanker refueling a B-21, and if you do the math, as we reach the end of programs for things, that’s the reality,” Sonkiss mentioned throughout a Feb. 24 roundtable on the Air and Space Force Association’s Warfare Symposium.
Gunzinger mentioned the KC-135 is able to refueling a B-21, however agreed with Sonkiss’ level. The Fifties-era tanker was constructed with different conflicts in thoughts, and it wants key upgrades to remain related in a battle towards a future adversary.
“I think that’s a valid point. The Air Force’s Global Strike Forces were designed to operate together back in the 50s and in the 60s,” Gunzinger mentioned. “My point is KC-135 [was] never designed to be part of a secure communications network of the kind that you would want to operate in a conflict with China.”
