B21

An agreement to ramp up production of the B-21 Raider was indeed structured to at least open the door to orders for more of the bombers, according to prime contractor Northrop Grumman. When the deal was announced back in February, the U.S. Air Force described it as a tool primarily intended to simply help accelerate fielding of the B-21. The service also said that long-stated plans for a fleet of 100 aircraft remained unchanged. Since then, it has separately confirmed that it is reassessing the objective Raider fleet size.

Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden was asked about the prospect of orders for more than 100 B-21s during a quarterly earnings call earlier this week.

“The agreement we reached with the Air Force does allow them to consider accelerating production into a larger program of record, and we are working with them in that analysis,” Warden said. “They are undertaking it now. I expect that by year-end they will come to a conclusion on that, and we’ll certainly keep you updated.”

The deal, as it was announced earlier this year, centers on a 25 percent boost in annual B-21 production capacity. Raider production rate details have been and remain classified, but past reports have said that Northrop Grumman is understood to be able to churn out up to eight of the bombers a year.

As noted, emphasis was placed at the time on production acceleration to support fielding of the first operational B-21s next year. Any possibility of a larger total fleet size was downplayed.

U.S. officials have increasingly voiced support for a fleet of more than 100 B-21s for years now. Just in April, Secretary Pete Hegseth told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he saw a need for “a lot more” B-21s. However, the Air Force has repeatedly said there has been no change in the official acquisition plan.

The first sign of actual change being on the horizon came in May. That month, Air Force Lt. Gen. David Tabor, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, made clear that the planned Raider fleet size, or so-called program of record, was at least under formal review at a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.

“We’re in the process of sharpening our pencils, really getting down to exactly what that [revised program of record] is,” Tabor said at that time, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “I think here in the next year, by the time we get to the ’28 [Fiscal Year 2028] budget, we’ll be able to give you a better answer, much more precise answer, and show you our homework.”

The Pentagon’s annual proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year is typically released sometime in the spring. During the earnings call this week, Northrop Grumman CEO Warden indicated that the final decision on a new B-21 fleet size target is actually expected to come months before then, which makes sense in the context of the lengthy budget planning process.

What that new B-21 fleet number might be remains to be seen, and it is not clear whether it will even be publicly disclosed. In February, an Air Force official told TWZ that any revised figure is expected to be classified. Cost, schedule, and other details about the Raider program continue to be shrouded in heavy secrecy even as the aircraft has moved into increasingly public testing ahead of its planned fielding next year.

In terms of overall progress, the Air Force and members of Congress have repeatedly described the B-21 as a model acquisition effort that has been able to stay within cost and schedule targets despite at least a few hurdles during development.

On “B-21, there’s been good execution throughout the years,” John Greene, Northrop Grumman’s CFO, also said on the earnings call this week. “So, that’s been an enabler to ensure the overall program profitability remains on a direction that’s headed north.”

Air Force officials have also been open about their excitement for what the B-21 will bring operationally, as well as the added capacity that will come from having even 100 of these bombers. The B-21 is notably smaller than the B-2, but it will offer extreme range and other substantially improved capabilities compared to its predecessor. There are also only 19 B-2s still in service, and those aircraft, though highly capable, are very much a ‘silver bullet’ force.

B-21 Takeoff and Landing

The Raiders will replace the Air Force’s aging B-1B swing-wing bombers, as well. There is no clear replacement plan for the B-52 bomber yet, with those aircraft set to continue flying through at least 2050. To ensure their relevance for decades to come, the B-52s are in the process of receiving an extensive array of upgrades, including new engines and radars, but there have been delays. How those efforts continue to unfold might also have implications for the B-21 even though the two aircraft fill very different roles.

By all indications, the B-21 remains on track to begin fielding next year. The Air Force just recently made an announcement about the operational crew complement for the bombers, which will be two pilots. You can read more about this decision and its significance here.

It will still be some time before the B-21 force reaches a true operational capability even after initial fielding begins. Raider deliveries are also set to continue for years, especially if the total planned fleet rises well above 100 aircraft.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The U.S. Air Force has officially decided that the B-21 Raider will be flown by a crew consisting of two pilots, just like the B-2 is today. The service had previously considered operating the bomber with just one pilot alongside a weapon systems officer (WSO), or ‘wizzo.’ The plan is now to transition some number of qualifying WSOs and combat systems officers (CSOs) to become pilots for the future B-21 fleet.

The formal announcement about the standard two-pilot crew complement for the B-21 came yesterday. This follows the Air Force’s announcement in June that an operational test pilot had taken the controls of a pre-production Raider for the first time.

“Following careful analysis of the B-21’s advanced capabilities, Air Force leadership determined that a two-pilot configuration optimally supports the aircraft’s mission profile,” according to an official release. “To maximize the lethality and survivability of the Raider, it is imperative to retain the deep tactical and combat experience currently residing within the WSO and CSO communities.”

“The Air Force is establishing a pilot transition program for select weapons system officers and combat systems officers who will be chosen to attend pilot training with a follow-on assignment to the B-21,” the release added. “Eligible officers will be provided with additional information via command channels when available.”

The Raider is still in development, but the Air Force is now aiming to begin fielding the bombers next year at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The stated plan remains to acquire at least 100 B-21s, but service officials have said they plan to roll out a more precise figure next year, which is widely expected to be larger. This will also have an impact on the total number of pilots required.

“The pilots will be 11B bomber pilots and the Air Force is still working through the number of B-21 pilots we will have,” an Air Force spokesperson told TWZ directly today when asked for more information about the crewing decision.

“11B” here is the basic Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) for bomber pilots. Suffixes are used to reflect specific bomber types that individuals are assigned to fly. This administrative code should not in any way be confused with the U.S. Army’s 11B Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) for infantrymen.

As mentioned, the standard crew complement for a B-2 bomber is also two pilots. There is also a small cot that allows for one pilot to sleep while the other flies during portions of a sortie, which can sometimes stretch across multiple days. Having two pilots also offers an additional margin of safety. That being said, for single-pilot B-21 operations, the Air Force could have provided WSOs with additional training to be able to fly the aircraft in an emergency.

“I think the B-21 is going to be largely like the B-2 in how it supports the crews,” Air Force Gen. Stephen Davis, head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), told TWZ in an interview with our Howard Altman in January. “There’s enough room for crew members to go on rest status. There’s a place to go to the bathroom, obviously, and to prepare food. All those things will exist in the B-21.”

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This was Davis’ first interview since taking charge of AFGSC, which oversees the Air Force’s bomber fleets, as well as other strategic capabilities. His predecessor, now-retired Gen. Thomas Bussiere, had been the one to recommend operating the B-21 with one pilot and one WSO.

“In terms of the crew complement for the B-21, that’s an ongoing discussion within the Department of the Air Force. No final decision has been made. Frankly, we had the same discussion on the B-2 on how it would be manned. And ultimately, they went with two pilots, in part because of the cost of the platform and the number they were producing,” Davis said in his interview with us when asked about this. “Actually, at the time, it was a requirement to have navigator or WSO experience to be a B-2 pilot. We went away from that over time, but that was one of the initial requirements.”

This latter point is particularly notable now that the Air Force has formally announced that it will transition WSOs and CSOs into B-21 pilots.

“With B-21 pilots, it’s a different plane, as it has a number of different capabilities,” Davis had added. “So we think that the right thing to do is look carefully at that crew complement and decide how to best make that the most capable combat platform we can.”

It remains unclear whether or not the Air Force might still consider single-pilot B-21 operations down the line. There was at least a stated desire for an optionally piloted mode, or the means to rapidly integrate one, as part of the requirements for the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program that led to the Raider. TWZ highlighted this all the way back in 2017 after we obtained a heavily redacted copy of a Department of Defense Inspector General report titled “Audit of the Acquisition of the Long Range Strike Bomber,” via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). That report was dated September 8, 2015, the same year Northrop Grumman was chosen as the winner of the LRS-B competition.

When reports first emerged that the Air Force was considering single-pilot B-21 operations in November 2025, TWZ pointed out that there were strong signs that a high level of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) infused autonomy had already been baked into the design.

While those capabilities might someday open doors to pilot-optional or uncrewed modes for the B-21, they could also be very beneficial for human pilots flying the bombers now. For years now, the U.S. military has been heavily investing publicly in ‘virtual co-pilot’ type technologies to increase safety margins and reduce workload for aircrew on fixed-wing planes and helicopters. This is on top of any work being done in the classified realm.

As we wrote previously:

“Since the early 2010s, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been notably supporting the development of AI ‘co-pilots’ that could be used on helicopters and fixed aircraft to help increase safety margins and reduce workload for human pilots through a program called the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS). ALIAS’ work has been centered on Lockheed Martin’s MATRIX autonomy flight control software package.”

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“Other companies, such as Shield AI and Merlin, have been developing similar autonomy packages and steadily growing their capabilities. Merlin has been notably working toward integrating its autonomy software onto an Air Force KC-135 tanker. Shield AI’s Hivemind has already been integrated onto a host of crewed and uncrewed platforms. It is also worth noting that the B-21 has been in development for more than a decade, and its capabilities in this regard would have been way ahead of its time.”

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“An AI agent would offer a B-21 crew additional layers of redundancy and added safety margins, as well as just helping to reduce total workload, which could offset risks associated with having just one pilot. If the functions of that virtual co-pilot extend to offering well-formulated tactical advice, such as whether or not to attack, jam, or avoid a threat altogether along the B-21’s carefully calculated ‘blue line’ flight path, it could also offer an important boost in survivability and tactical flexibility.”

Otherwise, the B-21 continues to be a model acquisition program that has been able to stay largely on schedule and budget, despite at least some hurdles, according to both U.S. military officials and members of Congress. In February, the Air Force announced that it was boosting the rate of production of the bombers to help accelerate their fielding.

When the first B-21 touches down at Ellsworth Air Force Base, we can now expect it to be flown by a crew consisting of two pilots.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

After what appeared to be cryptic indications that prompted online speculation and excitement, fans of the B-21 Raider won’t be seeing America’s newest bomber in any Fourth of July celebrations, the Air Force confirmed to TWZ Wednesday morning. The aircraft, two of which are now undergoing flight testing, will remain at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Asked by TWZ to “confirm B-21 will not take part in any 250th celebration events in DC or anywhere else,” an Air Force official offered the following response: “The B-21 will not take part in any flyovers for this week’s celebration.” 

The official further clarified that the aircraft won’t take part in any such events, even though the flyovers in Washington, D.C. continue through July 10.

The Air Force official’s statement about the B-21 not taking part in any Independence Day celebrations adds additional clarity to comments Air Force Secretary Troy Meink made to Air & Space Forces Magazine last week about the topic.

“No, no, the program is going really, really well, but the planes are out at Edwards, and we just started doing refueling,” Meink told the publication. “So to get a B-21 here [for the Fourth], not going to happen.” 

TWZ was first to report on the Raider’s initial refueling trials.

The first pre-production B-21 arrived at Edwards Air Force Base following its maiden flight in 2023. A second pre-production Raider took to the skies last year. The Air Force is eventually expected to take delivery of a total of six pre-production examples of the new stealth bomber. Non-flying airframes are also being used to support ongoing testing.

The Air Force expects to procure 100 of these jets, and possibly significantly more. You can read more about the program in our story here.

B-21 Takeoff and Landing

Speculation about whether the B-21 would make an appearance over the nation’s capital was mainly fueled by a campaign of cryptic videos and an image posted on social media by the jet’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman.

A 30-second video titled “Stealth Meets Spotlight: B‑21 Blows Out 250 Candles to Celebrate America’s Birthday” was posted on YouTube 11 days ago.

It opens with credits showing “Utah Salt Flats” and then shows the silhouette of a Raider followed by one flying low and blowing out 250 candles on pillars placed in a row before roaring off with the words “Happy Birthday, America” emblazoned on the screen.

Stealth Meets Spotlight: B‑21 Blows Out 250 Candles to Celebrate America’s Birthday

A seven-second version of that video, posted on X June 25 and titled: “Some things stay off the radar. America’s 250th isn’t one of them,” just shows the silhouette and the candles being blown out.