B-21 rollout kl 0200 lørdag norsk tid - DefenseNews

 

Northrop Grumman preparing for B-21 stealth bomber rollout

by Larry Grooms • November 30, 2022 6:58 am - Updated November 30, 2022 7:13 am

The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stands ready to be unveiled at 5 p.m., Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. (Northrop Grumman photograph)

by Larry Grooms
special to Aerotech News

AEROSPACE VALLEY, Calif.— “This changes everything,” is the silent message superimposed on an 11-second Northrop Grumman video of a shrouded B-21 Raider to either roll out or be unveiled Dec. 2 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif.

With security measures that could be fodder for a Tom Clancy techno-thriller, the public debut of the first new U.S. Air Force bomber in more than 30 years invites contrasting comparison with aviation disclosures of the early distant past. Asked to recall any similarly secretive rollouts, 412th Test Wing Historian James Tucker said one that came close was the XP-59, America’s first jet fighter during World War II, shipped by rail from the factory to Muroc Army Air Base (now Edwards) and flown in total secrecy.

Although the B-21’s predecessor, Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, appeared before a large and enthusiastic crowd in the sunlight outside the doors of the same assembly hangar three decades earlier, that’s where the similarity ends  —”Changing Everything.”

This Friday [Dec. 2] an as yet undisclosed number of unnamed guests are expected “by invitation only” to witness the event from a likewise undisclosed location inside or outside.

Because Congress is scheduled to remain in session on Friday, both Aerospace Valley Congressional representatives are committed to remain in the Capitol to vote. However, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Republican Congressman Mike Garcia are expected to make formal remarks concerning the B-21 Raider defense program.

News releases and statements from Northrop Grumman officials used the terms rollout and unveiling interchangeably, and artistic representations vary between artist renderings of an aircraft and the featureless shape of a tailless fuselage veiled in a semi-transparent shroud.

The American public will be able to watch on their devices live-streaming video of Friday’s proceedings. And based on nervous and dismissive tweets from the People’s Republics of whereever, the rest of the world will be taking an interest as well in what NGC Aeronautics Systems President Tom Jones called “a sixth-generation aircraft.”

The public can access the livestream reveal of the B-21 Raider unveiling Friday, Dec. 2 at http://ms.spr.ly/6186dCONr

The unveiling is currently scheduled for 5 p.m., PST.