21 janvier 2021 | International, Aérospatial

Watch the skies in 2022 for the first B-21 bomber flight

By:

WASHINGTON — Sorry, aviation geeks: The first flight of the U.S. Air Force's latest stealth bomber won't be happening this year.

The Air Force had once projected the first flight of the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider would occur in December 2021, but the new bomber will not be ready to roll out until early next year for a flight in mid-2022, said the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director, Randall Walden, according to a Jan. 15 story in Air Force Magazine. The RCO manages the B-21 program on behalf of the service.

Two B-21s are under construction at Northrop Grumman's production facility in Palmdale, California. The first aircraft hasn't made it to final assembly yet but is “really starting to look like a bomber,” Walden told Air Force Magazine.

“The second one is really more about structures, and the overall structural capability,” Walden said. “We'll go in and bend it, we'll test it to its limits, make sure that the design and the manufacturing and the production line make sense.”

Although information about the B-21 is notoriously limited, with many details of the Raider's cost, appearance and capability classified, Walden offered a couple optimistic notes about the program's progress.

For one, production of the B-21 is already becoming more efficient during the build of the second aircraft, he said. Northrop Grumman is using a business jet as a test bed for new avionics and software, allowing those systems to be debugged before they are installed in the B-21 aircraft.

While there have been some disruptions to the supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Walden said the program has worked with companies to mitigate changes to the production schedule.

“In the last few months, we did another successful end-to-end demonstration to further mature that hardware and software, and it's working quite well,” Walden said. “We're preparing ourselves not just for first flight, but ultimately the subsystem testing that will be required during those flight test phases.”

The Air Force has committed to buying at least 100 B-21s, although officials such as Gen. Timothy Ray, who leads Air Force Global Strike Command, said more will be needed to meet the service's future bomber requirements, which could be in excess of 220 aircraft.

The service is expected to make a final decision this year on which bomber installations will first host the Raider. In March 2019, the Air Force picked Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota as its preferred location, with Dyess AFB in Texas as an alternate location.

A virtual industry day was held Jan. 11 to provide information on contract opportunities for construction projects needed to support B-21 operations. Those facilities could include a “low-observable restoration facility, a wash rack and general maintenance hangar, and a mission operations planning facility,” according to the Air Force.

The service expects to begin fielding the B-21 in the mid-2020s.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2021/01/19/watch-the-skies-in-2022-for-the-first-b-21-bomber-flight/

Sur le même sujet

  • Companies unveil Eurodrone model at Berlin Air Show

    27 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial

    Companies unveil Eurodrone model at Berlin Air Show

    By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN ― Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo have revealed the first full-scale model of an envisioned European drone at the Berlin Air Show, upping the the visibility ― and scrutiny ― of a project meant to epitomize the continent's growing military profile. Thursday's mock-up unveiling was orchestrated with big fanfare on the tarmac of Schönefeld airport south of the German capital. Featuring climactic music, lights and dissipating smoke, the ceremony organizers were lucky enough to catch a momentary break between a hefty mix of rain showers, sunshine and wind gusts, considered typical April weather here. The medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft rides on a twin-turboprop propulsion system and will come in a strike-capable configuration when it reaches the actual flying stage in the mid-2020s. Germany, France, Italy and Spain have a hand in the program, though only the first three are considered the principal main industry partners, with Germany's Airbus in the lead. Notably, companies are building the unmanned plane so it can operate immediately in the dense European airspace. Past practice of first acquiring a drone and later worrying about requisite certifications has proven to be problematic, especially for the Germans. The mock-up is based on a vehicle configuration agreed by the partner nations in mid-2017. In January, the program passed a systems requirements review, prompting another study phase that should last through 2018 and lead to another milestone, a “system preliminary design review,” the companies wrote in a statement. “While still a lot of work lies ahead of us, this full-scale model represents a first milestone of what Europe can achieve in a high-technology sector if it bundles its industrial strength and know-how,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. Hoke told reporters he views the approach to the drone as a learning experience for a new combat aircraft development that is on the horizon between Germany and France. In addition, he told Defense News there is some hope of redemption for problem-plagued projects of the past. For example, the European drone will come in one base configuration for all the countries that users can then move to expand, avoiding too many separate build types that came to haunt the A-400M, Hoke said. “This is a chance to prove that we can work in a different way together,” he said. One of the configurations will entail a strike package, though officials said they had yet to think about the particulars of that mission set. In an apparent nod to Germany, Hoke told Defense News that the combat capability would depend on political sensitivities in each user nations, and that customers can opt to solely install the reconnaissance features. Armed drones are a thorny subject in Germany, as the weapons conjure up images of the U.S. government's targeted killing of suspected terrorists, which many in the country reject. By the time the issue of armaments comes up for the Eurodrone, however, there may already be a resolution. That's because upcoming parliamentary decisions could lead to Germany's first-ever armed drone, the Heron TP, leased through Airbus from Israel. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2018/04/26/companies-unveil-eurodrone-model-at-berlin-air-show/

  • Contracts for March 9, 2021

    10 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contracts for March 9, 2021

    Today

  • La France, troisième du classement des pays exportateurs d’armement dans le monde

    16 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    La France, troisième du classement des pays exportateurs d’armement dans le monde

    Selon le dernier rapport du SIPRI, les livraisons d'armes sont restées stables dans le monde sur la période 2016-2020 par rapport aux cinq années précédentes, avec une évolution contrastée selon les pays. La France, troisième exportateur mondial, a vu ses livraisons augmenter de 44% en volume en 2016-2020, ce qui représente 8,2% du marché. Plus de la moitié (59%) du volume de ces livraisons étaient destinées à trois pays : l'Inde, l'Egypte et le Qatar. Les Etats-Unis, leaders mondiaux, ont augmenté leurs livraisons, à +15%, et ont fourni des armes à 96 Etats, dont près de la moitié en volume (47%) au Moyen-Orient (24% pour la seule Arabie saoudite). Deuxième plus grand exportateur mondial avec 20% du marché, la Russie a vu ses livraisons baisser de 22%, recul essentiellement lié à la baisse de ses ventes d'armes vers l'Inde. La France se classe devant la Chine, qui a diminué de 7,8% ses exportations d'armes, et l'Allemagne, qui a, elle, augmenté ses exportations de 21% et compte la Corée du Sud, l'Algérie et l'Egypte parmi ses principaux clients. Le Figaro, Les Echos et L'Usine Nouvelle du 16 mars

Toutes les nouvelles