The US Air Force could order more than one B-21 Raider nuclear bomber in 2024 if Congress approves the $2.3bn funding request

The draft budget for fiscal year 2024 envisages an increase in spending on the B-21 Raider nuclear bomber. The first contract could be signed as early as 2023.

Here's What We Know

The B-21 Raider was announced in late 2022. The US Air Force recently released new photos of the strategic aviation aircraft, the features of which are being kept strictly secret. The service wants an additional $673 million for the programme, which would increase total funding in the next fiscal year to $2.3 billion.

A US Air Force spokesman said this would enable the order of "more than one" aircraft. However, he declined to specify how many bombers the service would be able to buy. The Air Force spokesman added that the amount would include the purchase of spare parts, pilot training and the purchase of parts for future production batches.

Northrop Grumman has previously said it hopes to receive its first contract for the B-21 Raider in late calendar year 2023. The US Air Force is not commenting on this and says it must first wait for the first flight, which is also scheduled for 2023.

The Air Force wants to avoid problems related to parallelism. The term should be understood to mean a situation where the procurement is still in the development phase. The F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation fighter jet, has suffered from this. Therefore, the service wants Northrop Grumman to complete the development of the plane, fix all the problems, and only then can move on to procurement.

Source: Defence News