B-21

By Brian Everstine, Guy Norris
The U.S. Air Force has shown the Northrop Grumman B-21 in flight for the first time.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force is reportedly looking to pre-position bombers across the Indo-Pacific.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Air Force will not repair and instead will divest one B-2 stealth bomber that was damaged in a ground accident, shrinking an already small fleet.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
A reusable hypersonic Next-Generation Responsive Strike prototype could be commissioned by the end of the decade.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Continuing an annual tradition dating back to 1957, Aviation Week Network editors honored a wide variety of industry accomplishments.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Steve Trimble, Brian Everstine
Facing a reduction to its expected budget next year, the military cuts back on near-term aircraft procurement.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
USAF is upping procurement spending on the B-21 Raider, though not as much as originally expected because of a favorable negotiated price with Northrop Grumman.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
A Boeing acquisition of all or part of Spirit AeroSystems could be, if consummated, a surprise coup for the former’s defense business.
Supply Chain

By Steve Trimble
A lighter-weight replacement is coming for the Massive Ordnance Penetrator as the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider moves moves through flight testing.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Steve Trimble
Northrop Grumman's estimates show that B-21 production costs through fiscal 2027 totals $17.4 billion, including a $1.56 billion charge revealed on Jan. 25.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The B-21 program will lose $1.56 billion combined on all bombers delivered during the first five annual lots of production, Northrop Grumman has revealed.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine, Steve Trimble
The Pentagon's top weapons buyer has given Northrop Grumman the go-ahead for low-rate production of the B-21 Raider.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Steve Trimble
The second acknowledged test of the B-21 came 68 days after the first flight from the public airport in Palmdale, California.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Faced with an expected influx of testing with current infrastructure and staff maxed out, Edwards AFB aims to reinvent itself.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Major events in aerospace and defense during 2023.
Aerospace

Forecasts, snapshots and military aircraft to watch.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The service is looking at 15% budget increases per year. But if Congress does not pass an appropriations bill, that expected growth will be on hold.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble, Tony Osborne, Brian Everstine
An ongoing software problem haunts Lockheed Martin’s production and modernization agenda for the F-35 as a raft of new competitors hit key milestones in 2024.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Guy Norris, Steve Trimble
A new book takes the wraps off the secret flight-test history of the facility in the Nevada Test and Training Range like no one ever has before. Listen in to hear from author Peter Merlin.
Check 6

By Steve Trimble
The timing and quality of the Raider’s second sortie may be at least as significant for the secretive U.S. Air Force program as the first, if not more.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
The bomber’s public first flight kicks off an intensive test campaign and more funding for Northrop Grumman.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Brian Everstine
Video confirms the flying-wing aircraft has a simple W-shape trailing edge and reveals an extremely clean design with an almost featureless underside.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Readers write about Bill Sweetman’s recent B-21 cover story, AAM market appeal, U.S. military drone swarm acquisition and supersonic transport challenges.
Aviation Week & Space Technology

By Brian Everstine
The Pentagon wants to build a new nuclear gravity bomb, aiming to modernize part of its strategic stockpile by replacing one of the most potent variants of its B61.
Missile Defense & Weapons