After the US Air Force announced the B-21 stealth bomber, the aircraft is no longer a "highly confidential" to the outside world. From the perspective of appearance alone, B-21 should not experience too major changes again, which also means that the work in the R&D stage is basically coming to an end. The next step is to various test flights and "small modifications" until it is officially mass production and service. Although B-21 lacks the novelty and impact of the B-2 when it was released, we cannot underestimate it too much.
B-2 (Part 1) and B-21
The reason why the US Air Force chose to develop the B-21 instead of making large-scale improvements to the previous B-2 is probably related to the demands during the Cold War and today's demands. Looking back on the crazy and dangerous Cold War era, the US Air Force's positioning and requirements for the B-2 are a device that can meet the needs of the world war, especially the nuclear war, and . As a highly stealth bomber platform, the B-2 will carry nuclear weapon into the tightly defended Soviet hinterland to launch strikes, as well as hunt down nuclear weapons launch devices in the Soviet Union.
US B-52 bombers and Russian Tu-95 bombers are in the same frame. However, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the demand for such battlefields has been greatly reduced. The various technical indicators achieved by the B-2 to meet this demand seem too expensive and wasteful, and the cost-effectiveness ratio is obviously not as good as the old-fashioned B-52 strategic bombers. It is not difficult to find that in the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War on Terror , the US military rarely uses B-2 to perform air strike missions. Instead, B-52 and B-1B, which do not have stealth capabilities, are used more frequently. Therefore, the low-cost advantage of B-21 over B-2 is very necessary for the US military.
B-21 production and use costs will be lower than B-2
Judging from the statements of US Secretary of Defense Austin and Air Force Secretary Kendall, B-21 will be used to "deter China." Although the B-21 has shrunk compared with the B-2 in terms of range and bomb load, this also gives the US Air Force the ability to install more stealth bombers, that is, the scale of stealth bombers that the United States can deploy and put into use will be greatly increased, and the optional functions and tactics will be more flexible, such as performing anti-ship missions and conventional bombing. In this way, the B-21 is expected to truly become a "nuclear and common stealth bomber" that the US military can afford, and to strike targets that are "unreachable" of the range of F-22 and F-35.
B-2 production quantity is very small and the cost is high
At the same time, although the technological breakthrough of B-21 is relatively limited compared to B-2, as long as the technology is mature enough, at least the US military can obtain a large number of B-21s and put on combat readiness duty in a short period of time, and its use value is still very great. For the current countries around the world, establishing a stealth air force has become a major development trend, but how to establish an "anti-stealing means" that can counter the stealth air force, it is still difficult to say that the relevant results are 100% mature and effective. The B-21 bomber troops, which are expected to be equipped far exceeding the B-2, are still a significant threat.
We need to establish a stealth Air Force that integrates offense and defense
Therefore, from the perspective of the People's Air Force, we must never relax the development of stealth fighter jets and anti-stealth technology. We must achieve an integrated offense and defense so that potential opponents can also feel the pressure from China's stealth bombers. The B-21's leading position will not be permanent.
