{"id":72059,"date":"2025-09-11T21:11:52","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/09\/11\/second-b-21-flies-for-first-time-as-air-force-eyes-testing-expansion\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:15:47","slug":"second-b-21-flies-for-first-time-as-air-force-eyes-testing-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/09\/11\/second-b-21-flies-for-first-time-as-air-force-eyes-testing-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Second B-21 flies for first time as Air Force eyes testing expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Air Force on Thursday announced its second B-21 Raider has flown to Edwards Air Force Base in California, expanding the service\u2019s capabilities to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/12\/03\/deterrence-the-american-way-the-new-b-21-bomber-debuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/12\/03\/deterrence-the-american-way-the-new-b-21-bomber-debuts\/\">test the next-generation stealth bomber<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With two B-21s now at Edwards, the Air Force said it can now move into more advanced phases of testing, covering weapons integration and critical mission systems. Until now, B-21 testing has primarily focused on initial flight performance checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith the arrival of the second B-21 Raider, our flight test campaign gains substantial momentum,\u201d Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said. \u201cWe can now expedite critical evaluations of mission systems and weapons capabilities, directly supporting the strategic deterrence and combat effectiveness envisioned for this aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The B-21, which manufacturer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2023\/01\/10\/building-a-better-bomber-how-the-stealthy-b-21-subverted-bureaucracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2023\/01\/10\/building-a-better-bomber-how-the-stealthy-b-21-subverted-bureaucracy\/\">Northrop Grumman<\/a> touts as the world\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/techwatch\/2022\/11\/28\/northrops-b-21-is-almost-here-whats-next-for-the-stealthy-bomber\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/techwatch\/2022\/11\/28\/northrops-b-21-is-almost-here-whats-next-for-the-stealthy-bomber\/\">first sixth-generation aircraft<\/a>, will be capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional weapons, and its advanced stealth is meant to allow it to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/10\/28\/air-force-open-to-greater-b-21-stealth-bomber-role-in-strategy-revamp\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/10\/28\/air-force-open-to-greater-b-21-stealth-bomber-role-in-strategy-revamp\/\">carry out penetrating strike missions<\/a> in enemy territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bomber, named in honor of the Doolittle Raiders of World War II, is intended to replace the aging B-1B Lancer and B-2A Spirit bombers. Eventually, the Air Force plans to fly a two-bomber force comprised of at least 100 B-21s and 76 revamped B-52J Stratofortresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force and Northrop Grumman unveiled the first B-21 at a plant in Palmdale, California, in December 2022. Nearly a year later, in November 2023, that first bomber flew to Edwards, while Northrop continued work building additional B-21s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/01\/23\/pentagon-oks-b-21-for-low-rate-production-after-successful-tests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/01\/23\/pentagon-oks-b-21-for-low-rate-production-after-successful-tests\/\">under a low-rate initial production process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having two B-21s at Edwards will also give B-21 maintainers more hands-on experience with the bombers, the Air Force said. Maintenance training will include learning the best ways to manage simultaneous repairs and sustainment operations, testing how effective maintenance tools are, learning how to use its technical data and becoming familiar with logistical processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will help the Air Force more quickly get the B-21 to a point where it can be used in normal operations, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe addition of a second B-21 to the flight test program accelerates the path to fielding,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cBy having more assets in the test environment, we bring this capability to our warfighters faster, demonstrating the urgency with which we\u2019re tackling modernization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force also said that in fiscal 2026 it will launch major construction projects at all three of the B-21\u2019s designated operating bases: Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe B-21 Raider program represents a cornerstone of our strategic nuclear modernization,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cThe concurrent efforts in testing, sustainment preparation, and infrastructure investments clearly illustrate our commitment to providing unmatched capabilities to deter and defeat threats well into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The service hopes having two B-21s at Edwards Air Force Base will allow it to begin testing the bomber&#8217;s weapons integration and critical mission systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":119868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"}}},"categories":[7,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-72059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4GQJRXAEMVD2HJ25T37Y2F6Z4Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2025\/09\/11\/second-b-21-flies-for-first-time-as-air-force-eyes-testing-expansion\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Second B-21 flies for first time as Air Force eyes testing expansion - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The service hopes having two B-21s at Edwards Air Force Base will allow it to begin testing the bomber&#039;s weapons integration and critical mission systems.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Second B-21 flies for first time as Air Force eyes testing expansion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The service hopes having two B-21s at Edwards Air Force Base will allow it to begin testing the bomber&#039;s weapons integration and critical 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