The
Air Force has revealed an artist's rendition of the B-21, a highly secretive,
next-generation stealth bomber to replace an aging fleet of older planes flying
missions around the world.
Secretary
of the Air Force Deborah Lee James unveiled the illustration - which
bears a strong resemblance to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber -- for the first time on Feb. 26 at an Air
Force Association convention in Orlando, Fla.
"We
have an image, we have a designation, but here's what we don't have," she
told the audience. "We don't yet have a name."
James
called on airmen and others to suggest names for the stealthy aircraft under
development -- until now known simply as the Long Range Strike-Bomber, or
LRS-B.
"The
main reason for releasing this picture is to make the program real for
legislators who up to now have seen it as kind of an abstraction or concept
rather than a concrete item," said Loren B. Thompson, a senior defence
analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute and a defence industry
consultant.
The
Air Force could buy between 80 to 100 of the Northrop Grumman bombers. Costs
are not finalized but the program could reach up to $80 billion by one estimate
when research and development and procurement are factored in.
Designated
as the first "21st-century bomber," the B-21 eventually would replace
the workhorse B-52 Stratofortress, first flown in the 1950s, and the swing-wing
B-1 Lancer, launched in the 1980s. The new bomber jet would join the fleet in
the mid-2020s.
Congressional
legislators will scrutinize the secretive bomber because the Air Force cannot
afford all the new weapons programs targeted in future years, Thompson said.
"The
Air Force is trying to bolster the case for its new bomber in a Washington
political culture that is suspicious of anything secret," he said.
"Sen. John McCain's statement this week that he would oppose open-ended
funding of the bomber's development underscores the political challenge the Air
Force faces."
McCain,
R-Ariz., is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The
new design corrects issues with the B-2 that rendered it more detectable in
some situations, Thompson added.
"The
only thing an adversary can learn from looking at this picture (of the B-21) is
that most of their existing radars are going to be useless in being able to
detect it," he said.
The
B-21 design was chosen over a rival Boeing and Lockheed Martin team to build
the next generation jet. Boeing filed a protest with the Government
Accountability Office last year over losing the contract, but the GAO this
month upheld the Air Force selection of Northrop Grumman.
The
Air Force also bypassed the Fighters and Bombers Directorate headquartered at Wright-Patterson and gave oversight of the secretive plane's research
and development to the Rapid Capabilities Office in Washington, D.C.
The
new stealth bomber would be built to fly from the continental United States and
penetrate increasingly sophisticated air defenses of potential adversaries, Air
Force officials have said.