AIRCRAFT: New B-21 Bomber Unveiled

Name That Plane.

New design and designation for the planned Air Force Long Range Strike Bomber: B-21 bomber. (U.S. Air Force photo: artist’s rendering)

The U.S. Air Force has revealed the design for its planned Long Range Strike bomber, to be officially designated the B-21, and is taking suggestions on what to call the new warbird.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James revealed the concept design last week at the Air Force Association‘s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. She said the official designation recognizes the stealthy aircraft will be the first bomber of the 21st Century.

She also said the Air Force will be taking suggestions from its own uniformed personnel on what to call the new plane. Meanwhile, some websites like Defense News have set up an unofficial poll, offering some interesting — and whimsical — names like Wraith, Ghost, Bomberang and Budget Buster.

If the initial design concept looks familiar, James said that’s because the B-21 shares some resemblance to the B-2 bomber. And that’s because the new bomber has been designed “based on a set of requirements that allows the use of existing and mature technology.”

We’re struck by how much this new design resembles one described by your 4GWAR editor for Air & Space Smithsonian magazine a while back. We asked several defense thinkers what futuristic technologies the LRS would need and what that might look like.

You can view that design here and judge how close they came to the real thing.

The next generation bomber is to be built by Northrop Grumman, which also built the B-2.