New B-21 Stealth Bomber Ready to Take on a ‘Belligerent’ China – A key U.S. senator who sits on the Senate Armed Service Committee has finally articulated what many defense analysts have already speculated on – that the new B-21 Raider bomber is being manufactured to someday take on China.
Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota said recently that the B-21 will play a critical role against China to ensure that its military would not attack Taiwan or bully U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific in any way.
“It is actually our China deterrence weapon,” Rounds told South Dakota State Public Broadcasting. “We have the ability to let China and others know that should they become belligerent that this particular platform can carry nuclear weapons. It can carry conventional weapons, as well,” Rounds said. “It can do so and penetrate their most advanced air protection systems—their air defense systems—and take out some of the most sensitive sights that they have if we perceive that they are going to be or are using them in an offensive capability.”
Telling It Like It Is on B-21
This is probably one of the most direct statements by civilian or military leadership about the role the B-21 would play in future conflict. It is interesting that Rounds also mentioned “others” in his statement. That likely means Russia or even Iran and North Korea could someday be deterred by the B-21 when it is deployed in squadrons. President Joe Biden has refrained from using U.S. personnel directly in Ukraine other than a handful of special operations forces who are providing advice and training. So America is not engaging in direct war with Russia, but the Moscow’s nuclear arsenal is always a worry. Iran and North Korea are also mentioned as U.S. adversaries and those governments would be concerned about an intercontinental nuclear-equipped bomber like the B-21.
South Dakota Is Bullish on the B-21
Senator Rounds is a big fan of the $700 million B-21 because the airplane will be housed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Six are currently being assembled at the Northrop Grumman plant in Palmdale, California. A vice president from the mammoth defense contractor also has explained how important threats from China could be addresses by the B-21.
When the B-21 was publicly unveiled in December, Northrop Grumman offered viewers a livestream of the event. Northrop’s Scott Vander Hamm said that 80 million people registered and watched. He added that more than 25 percent of these IP addresses were from China. This signifies that many in the country are interested in or maybe even concerned or scared about the B-21’s development. Vander Hamm said that “we sent a clear message” of deterrence to Beijing.
The first flight of the B-21 will be later this year and by the middle of the decade, the stealth bomber will be deployed at Ellsworth.
Leader of the Pack
The B-21 is expected to carry nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles. The bomber’s range is over 6,000 miles with a top speed of around 600 miles per hour. The B-21 can also act as an “airborne data hub.” This will allow it to get its ordnance to the target quickly by integrating intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data from F-35s and other sources.
Designers want to make sure the B-21 is easy to maintain and can stay in the air for long periods, so older bombers in the U.S. Air Force fleet can be retired.
The B-21 will be a significant asset for the U.S. military. China is concerned about its development – not to mention Russia, Iran, and North Korea. American adversaries will closely watch the events leading up to the deployment of new American weapons systems.
But according to political leaders and the B-21’s manufacturer, China is the main adversary that the bomber can help deter, especially when it comes to improving the American nuclear triad.
So, the B-21 is putting Beijing on warning.
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Author Expertise and Experience:
Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
NoName
May 9, 2023 at 2:34 pm
Wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper to just launch a half dozen or so ICBMs?
The Mag and the M'RM
May 9, 2023 at 2:43 pm
Wouldn’t it be much cheaper to just launch a half dozen or so ICBMs?
Steven
May 9, 2023 at 6:04 pm
NoName, let the war crimes begin! Nuke em’ all!
David Chang
May 9, 2023 at 6:23 pm
God bless people in the world.
Mr. Eastwood should not say that.
Mission is a religion noun, so people should not say that murder is a mission.
We shall remember the civil war and the atomic war in the first half of World War II, the Presbyterian Church, the Democratic-Republican Party, and the Communist Party should confess sin and repent to God, should not incite hatred with one-China policy, because Democratic Party cooperate with Communist Party to occupy China.
God bless America.
404NotFound
May 9, 2023 at 6:29 pm
Wrong, expert author.
There would be no winners in the coming ww3.
WW3 is coming, for sure, due to unrestrained wokeism, fascism and globalism.
That’s a totally deadly mix drummed up by the direct offspring of lucifer the spiritual godfather of babylon.
But back to B-21. The B-21 is similar to the breakthrough bombers of the 1930s which gave rise to the warning ‘the bomber will always get past the air defense.’
That warning led to the invention of radar as an air defense weapon.
Same case for B-21 bomber today. B-21 bases are not altogether unknown and therefore easily targeted by offensive weapons.
More importantly, B-21 is being superseded exactly right now by coming space bombers.
Just days ago, the CSSHQ spaceplane landed at a secret airstrip after spending 276 days in space.
That spaceplane is a forerunner of some future spacebomber soon likely to appear to make B-21 look like kindergarten stuff.
A fleet of spacebombers will cut down the warning time or suspense time in an all-out ww3.
Once a rival suspects the US (during a moment of crisis) is about to conduct a devastating or crippling first strike to secure an outright win or victory, it will signal its spacebombers to have the sensors & fuzes in their onboard nukes cocked and loaded.
As soon as the B-21s are spotted winging their way right toward the victim, the spacebombers will open cargo doors or payload bay doors and then….bombs away.
It would destroy the owner of the b-21s cuz those ‘bombs away’ can’t be recalled once released.
WW3 will thus witness no winners only losers. The greater loss though will be on the nation under attack by SPACEBOMBERS.
Thus cheers for the CSSHQ. (The obsolete-type propaganda statement that it is meant for peaceful uses of space is just pure humbug.)
JR
May 9, 2023 at 8:15 pm
I’m not sure if the reference to ICBMs is intended solely for the nuclear role, but if it’s not, there’s a terrible risk of using ICBMs for conventional strike. How would the enemy know what’s in the missile?
A long range stealth bomber like the B-21 will be able to engage in conventional strikes unlike ICBMs. There are high costs associated with long range missiles, such as the fact that they’re single use and they often have smaller warheads to enable longer range. A stealth bomber can carry relatively inexpensive weapons to their targets with the chance the bomber can be used repeatedly. Equipping a B-21 with laser weapons could make it even more survivable. I’ve seen the idea floated of equipping long range platforms with laser weapons that can loiter over enemy territory to shoot down SAM’s and ballistic missiles.
Another factor to consider is that the B-21 will likely have tremendous ISR and sensor fusion capabilities. It will also probably control a fleet of drones.
Finally, even if only considering the nuclear role, the bomber leg of the triad makes sense. It can be flexible in where it’s based or some number kept airborne in a crisis. They can be sent forward on their nuclear strike mission and yet be recalled if needed. You can’t recall ICBM’s/SLBM’s.