B-21 stealth bomber advances into weapons testing

Neither the US Air Force nor Northrop Grumman revealed the type of munition that was employed during the test.

In a major milestone for the US Air Force’s new stealth bomber programme, Northrop Grumman has moved the B-21 Raider prototype into weapons testing.

Northrop said on 13 November that the B-21 successfully demonstrated weapons release capability at Edwards AFB, where air force and company test pilots are putting the Raider through its paces ahead of 2027 deliveries to the first frontline bomber squadron.

“B-21 is another step closer to giving the US unrivalled deterrence,” says Tom Jones, president of Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems.

Although neither Northrop nor the USAF confirmed what type of munition was used in the test, Northrop says the milestone demonstrates that the B-21 can “carry and employ combat power”. The date of the weapons test was also not provided.

Two B-21 prototypes are known to be flying at Edwards in support of the test and certification campaign.

The air force plans to deliver the first combat-configured B-21 to Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota sometime in 2027. The Raider logged its first flight in late 2023, taking off from the USAF’s Plant 42 secure manufacturing site in Palmdale, California, where Northrop is assembling the first tranche of low-rate production B-21s.

Jones says the joint USAF-Northrop test effort for the B-21 is the “envy of the entire test community for its sustained rapid test pace and progress”.

The B-21 has notched major technical milestones during 2026, including a successful in-flight refuelling and weapons release. Source: Northrop Grumman

Production and command infrastructure advancing

In October, Northrop broke ground on its long-term final assembly line for the B-21, which will also be located on the grounds of Plant 42 in Palmdale. That facility will encompass roughly 93,000sq m (1 million sq ft) of space, construction of which is being funded under a $4.5 billion agreement between Northrop and the USAF announced earlier this year to accelerate production of the new stealth bomber.

Northrop says it also recently opened a second B-21 manufacturing facility in Layton, Utah, with over 24,000sq m of space.

Separately, the air force broke ground on its first dedicated B-21 site at Dyess AFB in Texas on 5 November. That $78 million B-21 Raider Mission Planning Facility will support future B-21 combat operations.

Colonel Robert Sturgill, commander of the USAF’s 7th Bomb Wing, says the Dyess command centre will be the “nerve centre” of a future B-21 campus at the Texas bomber base, which is currently home to the air force’s largest contingent of Boeing B-1B Lancer supersonic bombers.

“It will be the heart of B-21 mission planning and generation, equipped with the most modern communication networks and security infrastructure to enable our airmen to get after the global strike mission,” Sturgill says.

The USAF has committed to acquiring at least 100 B-21 bombers, which are meant to eventually replace both the B-1B and the Pentagon’s current nuclear-capable stealth bomber — the trailblazing Northrop B-2 Spirit.

The Cold War-era Boeing B-52H will continue to fly for decades longer alongside the B-21, with a modernisation effort underway that will upgrade those heavy bombers to the latest B-52J standard.

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