B-21 Raider Rollout

[James1978]

The B-21 Raider rollout is happening tonight - 7:45 EST; 4:45 PST.

Live Stream on Edwards AFB YouTube Channel

[jemhouston]

I'm trying to figure why they're doing it on a Friday night. That's reserved for bad news normally.

[James1978]

I think that to a degree, time and day mattered more when you were worried about making the evening news. With the Internet and live streaming, not so much. This is a rollout for the digital age, not network news.

Also, those B-1 afterburners looked a hell of a lot cooler at dusk than at 2:00 in the afternoon.

[jemhouston]

True. Doesn't look too different from the B-2. I muted the sound when Sec Def started talking.

[James1978]

I muted the sound when Sec Def started talking.

Can't say I blame you for that one, Vice Chair of the CJS and SecDef speeches both sounded like a word salad of focused grouped jargon.

[Johnnie Lyle]

I muted the sound when Sec Def started talking.

Can't say I blame you for that one, Vice Chair of the CJS and SecDef speeches both sounded like a word salad of focused grouped jargon.

Trying to kill the spies and foreign defense analysts watching the rollout

[MikeKozlowski]

...The flybys were freaking awesome. The beast itself looks to be slightly smaller than a B-2, and the color was intriguing - by all accounts, the program is going pretty well, and with any luck there's fellas in Moscow and Bejing tonight drinking straight from the bottle and getting heartburn.

Mike

[jemhouston]

I muted the sound when Sec Def started talking.

Can't say I blame you for that one, Vice Chair of the CJS and SecDef speeches both sounded like a word salad of focused grouped jargon.

Trying to kill the spies and foreign defense analysts watching the rollout

They're naturally immune to word salad. If they wanted that, they sent in the wrong duo. Two minutes of word salad from VP Harris would have them bleeding from the ears.

[Pdf27]

What it should have been

[Pdf27]

[jemhouston]

They eliminated the low-level flight requirement for the B-21, didn't they?

[James1978]

They eliminated the low-level flight requirement for the B-21, didn't they?

I believe so. That's supposed to be why is looks more like the original B-2 layout prior to the redesign for low-level.

[Pdf27]

Yes. Planform is the same as for the earlier B-2 designs without the low-level requirement.


Fuel burn is also likely be be significantly lower due to the newer engine design, presumably allowing for similar range from the smaller aircraft.

[Micael]

It should be noted that they had veeery strict restrictions on photography at the unveiling. Only photos taken from a platform in front of it with approved lenses and so on. The takes on the rear quarter remains unverified, just based on early artists impressions, didn’t allow any of that to be photographed at this point in time. So it’s not certain that it actually looks like those takes shown above.

[Micael]

You know I think I like a stealth bomber better in this color than in black. Plus it’s got a distinct flying saucer vibe going from the front.

[jemhouston]

I wonder if the aircraft is supposed to fly in the daylight. Between the World Wars, RAF painted training aircraft black, so they be easier to spot. That's one reason the F-117 were painted black, so nobody would fly them in the daylight.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

I wonder if the aircraft is supposed to fly in the daylight. Between the World Wars, RAF painted training aircraft black, so they be easier to spot. That's one reason the F-117 were painted black, so nobody would fly them in the daylight.

Wasn't there a story that they tested the F-117 with a pastel gray color scheme and they got firm orders from above to go back to basic black.

[Wolfman]

I wonder if the aircraft is supposed to fly in the daylight. Between the World Wars, RAF painted training aircraft black, so they be easier to spot. That's one reason the F-117 were painted black, so nobody would fly them in the daylight.

Wasn't there a story that they tested the F-117 with a pastel gray color scheme and they got firm orders from above to go back to basic black.

Lockheed figured the grayish scheme would work better for the assigned mission of the F-117A, but the USAF made them paint it black.

[James1978]

I wonder if the aircraft is supposed to fly in the daylight. Between the World Wars, RAF painted training aircraft black, so they be easier to spot. That's one reason the F-117 were painted black, so nobody would fly them in the daylight.

Well since it's going to be The Bomber, and hopefully we get enough of them, I think it's a safe bet that daylight missions are in the cards.

Wasn't there a story that they tested the F-117 with a pastel gray color scheme and they got firm orders from above to go back to basic black.

Three color pastel, actually - "a disruptive three-tone “pastel” camouflage pattern, comprising light tan, light moss green, and a darker tan, with three different shades of each color". Apparently in the early days of the program, the scheme was weird enough that it was supposed to make it more difficult for anyone to make out the F-117's true shape.

As I recall, Lockheed tried to tell the Air Force that at altitude, pastels were the best color scheme. To which the Powers That Be responded "real pilots don't fly pastel airplanes."

They did test a two-tone "Gray Dragon" scheme. Word is they were thinking about repainting the entire fleet before the decision was made to retire the F-117.

LINK: Why The F-117 Made Its First Flight In Pastel Camouflage 40 Years Ago Today

[Pdf27]

It should be noted that they had veeery strict restrictions on photography at the unveiling. Only photos taken from a platform in front of it with approved lenses and so on. The takes on the rear quarter remains unverified, just based on early artists impressions, didn’t allow any of that to be photographed at this point in time. So it’s not certain that it actually looks like those takes shown above.

Worth nothing that the pin worn by the guy singing the national anthem at the ceremony shows the above planform, rather than that of the B-2. They might be messing with us, but given that it's consistent with other information I'm fairly confident that the planform is accurate. Other details like engine exhausts, not so much...