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No other war machine symbolizes US military superiority as much as the W-shaped B-2 Spirit aircraft. When refueled in mid-air, it can reach any point on Earth in a few hours, dropping massive amounts of bombs or even nuclear weapons – and is difficult to locate thanks to its camouflage.

Now the latest version of the long-range bomber has taken off for its first test flight in California.

The B-21 Raider is the name of the model that Northrop Grumman engineers have been working on for many years. The US Air Force has ordered a total of 100 examples of the B-21 to replace its fleet of previous models from the Cold War era.

The first B-21s could be delivered in 2025. Thanks to modern technology, the aircraft can reach targets that 90 percent of all American bombers cannot reach, according to the US Department of Defense. With a unit price of almost 700 million euros, the B-21 would also be cheaper than the B-2, which costs almost a billion euros.

B-21 Raider has stealth technology

The new machine was presented to the public last year. Dozens of spectators watched the first test flight from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale last week, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The aviation enthusiasts also shared videos of the B-21 from different perspectives. The new bomber was accompanied by an F-16 fighter jet, as seen in these images:

The B-2’s original design as a so-called flying wing was designed to minimize the aircraft’s radar shadow and thus camouflage it from enemy air defenses.

According to American information, the new model has an additional coating that makes the aircraft even more difficult to locate, comparable to the most modern American F-35 fighter jet. The new coating is also intended to make the B-21 less sensitive and therefore more durable. Naturally, the US Air Force keeps the details of its stealth technology secret.

But engineers probably didn’t just improve the scale of the flying wing. A new onboard communications system allows the B-21 crew to share information with other combat units in real time. As the trade magazine “The War Zone” writes, the B-21, with a width of 47 meters, is smaller than its immediate predecessor, the B-2, with a wingspan of just under 53 meters.

Accordingly, the B-21’s turbines are positioned even deeper in the aircraft’s fuselage than before to reduce the engine’s telltale hot exhaust flow. According to “The War Zone,” the B-21’s bomb bay is also smaller, which could indicate it was armed with more modern bombs. However, it is still unclear which weapons the machine will carry.

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