On 10 November last year, the B-21 bomber, the latest generation bomber of the United States, officially made its first flight, and the US Air Force placed high hopes on it, even calling it "the world's first sixth-generation aircraft." What is unexpected is that after the first flight, the B-21 bomber only carried out a second test flight, and was officially announced for mass production on January 23 this year. According to a statement by US Deputy Secretary of Defense William Laplant, the US Department of Defense has officially approved the start of production of the B-21 bomber, which means that this bomber may officially enter service with the US Air Force in the near future.
This is undoubtedly very fast, you must know that the US Air Force's previous generation of bombers, the B-2 bomber, made its first flight in 1989, but it was not officially put into service until April 1997, while the Tu-160 bomber of the Soviet/Russian Air Force entered service in 1981, but it was not until 1987 that it began to equip the troops. It can be seen that, according to common sense, the development process of such a "national heavy weapon" as a bomber is very meticulous, and it is normal to strive to be foolproof, and it is normal for several years or even nearly 10 years from its first flight to its service. However, the B-21 of the US Air Force has entered the stage of mass production from the first flight in such a short time, undoubtedly creating a record in the history of modern aviation.
Even at present, the performance data of the B-21 can basically meet the requirements of the US Air Force, but it is still a little hasty to go into mass production after only two test flights. However, the US Air Force is not one of the most powerful air forces in the world, and there must be some justification for such a decision. So, why did the United States so hastily let the B-21 enter the mass production stage?
As the latest generation of bombers in the United States, the B-21 is a big step behind the B-2 bomber, a product of the Cold War, in terms of performance indicators. According to the data released by the United States, the bomb load of the B21 is 13.6 tons, which is 40 percent smaller than that of the B-2; in terms of range, the B-21 is only 8,000 kilometers without air refueling (without air refueling), which can be regarded as basically touching the threshold of a "strategic bomber", and the range of more than 10,000 kilometers compared with the B-2 is also greatly reduced. In this case, it is difficult for the B-21 to complete a long-range ultra-long-range (transcontinental) standoff strike like the B-2, which, according to the United States, is a so-called "penetrating" strike, which means that it is close to the enemy's air defense system and strikes.
Although the performance indicators are not as good as the B-2, the biggest advantage of the B-21 is the low cost, according to the US Department of Defense data: the unit price of the aircraft is 639 million US dollars, which is less than one-third of the B-2.
The data indicators are relatively easy to achieve, and the production cost is relatively low, which is the objective reason why the B-21 was able to quickly enter the mass production stage.
Of course, the urgent needs of the United States are also the subjective reasons for its haste to mass produce the B-21. The United States currently maintains the second largest bomber fleet in the world, with 157 bombers. However, although the number of bombers in the US Air Force is quite large, like Russia, it is about to face a situation of "green and yellow". The United States has the largest number of very old B-52 bombers, with a total of more than 70 bombers, and this kind of bomber can no longer survive in modern air combat only after gaining air supremacy to carry out large-scale bombing. The more than 60 B-1B bombers have a single purpose and are relatively old, and the US military is already pondering the process of retiring them; there are only 19 of the most advanced B-2 bombers, which cannot maintain the size of the US bomber fleet.
Moreover, the U.S. military has a lot of complaints about its B-2 bomber, which is the most advanced in service and the most advanced in the world. Due to its advanced technology, many forward bases of the US military are simply not able to deploy such "delicate" bombers. Every time it needs to be dispatched, it can only take off from the air base on the US mainland by thousands of miles, so the efficiency of its dispatch is very low, and it is ineffective. Coupled with the high cost of its repair and maintenance (it is said to be a billion dollars a year), it is difficult for even the US Air Force, which has always been known for its "deep pockets", to maintain it. Therefore, in this case, the U.S. military urgently needs a low-cost, mass-produced and technologically advanced bomber to replace the aging B-52 and B-1B, and can technically "match high and low" with B-2, and finally the product of this idea is the current B-21.
Another reason is that the rapid development of the mainland's naval and air force strength has made the United States feel that it is really "out of breath." Therefore, the US military hurriedly began to mass-produce B-21.The scale of our navy in recent years, especially the scale of surface ships, has become larger and larger, and now it has two aircraft carriers in service, dozens of advanced destroyers (052D+055), and the total tonnage of ships launched or commissioned every year has reached the level of a medium maritime power. At the same time, China's air force, especially stealth fighters, is also developing rapidly, and all this has made the US military anxious to expand its strength and maintain its precarious so-called "global hegemony."
Under such internal and external troubles, the United States made such a reckless decision (mass production of B-21), in fact, there is a certain degree of rationality.
However, the Indian side has soberly poured cold water on this decision of the US military. India's influential media "Eurasia Times" openly stated that the US Air Force's latest strategic bomber, the B-21, may have fallen into a "trap" set by China, and it is very likely that it will not be able to play the role envisaged by the US Air Force at all.
The Indian media believe that a bomber like the B-21 that wants to penetrate deep (by the way, the B-21 only has subsonic capabilities and cannot fly at supersonic speeds) can easily be shot down by a complete air defense system. Indian media also listed a variety of weapons and equipment that China can deal with B-21, such as J-20 fighters, PL-17 ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, YLC-8E radars, etc., in addition, China also has various types of long-endurance UAVs, which can detect B-21 attacks at any time, and cooperate with China's huge air defense system. Even if the B-21 has a certain stealth ability, it is actually easy to hide under such comprehensive monitoring!
The Indian media concluded that this B-21 bomber is likely to become the US Air Force's version of the so-called "Littoral Combat Ship" and become a big toy that "falls behind as soon as it enters service".
However, in any case, there is no doubt that the B-21 is a "large volume and full" type of bomber, and it is hoped that the number advantage will make up for the lack of B2, and it is said that the US Air Force is ready to produce more than 100 B-21s to solve the embarrassing situation that the B-2, which had only less than 20 planes before, was completely insufficient. Therefore, in terms of technology, it is very likely that the B-21, which is not very advanced, will have a big gap with the H-20, which is in a state of development against our army's benchmark B-20. It can be seen from this that in the future, the US Air Force will be in a "lose-lose" situation in terms of quantity and performance in the field of bombers.