Improvements to the B-21 over the B-2: Optionally manned RAM is no longer parasitic rather integrated into the skin greatly reducing maintenance costs Intakes are much better hidden without producing inlet distortions Fixed a maintenance headache related to the exhaust area Fixed the wing planform shape back to the proposed B-2 shape - more range and better RCS It's a smaller aircraft - we still buy aircraft by the pound

Love having these experts where we all learn something new in aviation! You go boys!

Airforce: we need better signature reduction, broadband stealth, thermal management, emissions control Fighter pilots: put an afterburner on, more boom boom go fast.

"I think I'm talking to some Fighter Pilots."

Great stuff. I love listening to Rick's level of experience and insight

I believe one key difference as far as stealth goes is the trailing edge. The B-2 was optimized for low level penetration which is why it has that saw tooth pattern which helped it handle the turbulence of high speed low altitude flight better. The B-21 is optimized for medium level and is basically a diamond with wings on it which as it turns out is more stealthy, but not so good with turbulence low and fast.

Tacit Blue, aka the Whale, is on display at the Air Force Museum.

I think the largest differences between the B2 and B21 are going to be beneath the skin. They almost certainly have new shapes/structures for absorbing radar, likely 3d printed. And of course there's the RAM. Stealth is very much like that defense onion, you want to reflect what you can away, then absorb what you can with RAM, and then dissipate what gets through using the internal structures. And I guarantee there's some funky stuff going on in the back to cool down the exhaust, we'll probably never know though

Gonky laughing about an AB on a bomber says it all! Hilarious!

I love bombers and crop dusters.

Keeping costs down is a major driver of the B-21 and thus I expect we'll see a lot of evolutionary improvements vs revolutionary ones that always take more time and money to make happen. Northrup has 40+ years of B-2 data to make this happen as well. Thus the exterior is only going to have modest visible changes. The avionics Comm, Nav, intercom is likely going to be nearly the same as current B-2 CNI. Flight controls & auto pilot could be the same boxes with modest improvements for the reported unmanned drone flights. The EW and Radar Warning systems may also be upgraded B-2 systems as well. A big change will be the reported addition of advanced ISR capabilities. This could be comparable to the ISR package carried by the RQ-4 at some 1000 to 2000 pounds it shouldn't be too hard to fit it in the B-21. It'll need a higher capacity satellite antenna of which Starlink has shown can be fairly compact. The biggest changes are likely the engines by going from the F-18 modified engines to one based on the F-35's engine. This will save a huge amount in logistics and support overhead by having a common engine for the biggest fighter and bomber fleets in the USAF. It's going to be fun watching the first flights of this beast and it can't come soon enough to replace our aging B-1s and B-2s.

Ill listen to any engineer speak. Though working in large scale commercial construction, i know not to trust them fully. A degree doesnt mean you understand real life loads. Trust me my life was put at risk by several engineers.

I think putting a afterburner on a B-21 would be a great idea 😂, make it go faster😂

It's called Twix now.

The B-21 has more in common with the RQ-170 & RQ-180 than it does with the B-2.

Fighter pilot gets promoted to product engineer of a passenger-jet program: Lead engineer: The engine-thrust will be adequate through all flight regimes..... Product Engineer: ...... Yeah, but can we get more smash out of this?????

Where can we find this whole interview with Rick?

Reduction in purchase price and operational costs may have been drivers to evolve the design from the B2.

Mover - Some time _real soon now_ chat about future fo A-10 and possible replacement for F-22? ^5

Northrop claimed the B21 is 1-2 generations ahead of the B2 in stealth capabilities. It’s probably going to be decades until we know how, but pretty crazy if that’s an accurate claim.

Let's elect Rick president in a write-in campaign. He'll save us tons of money. 😁

Rick speaks with great authority, and makes great sense.

F-117 was literally the low-poly model for potato computers.

You gotta go faster!!! Yep. Fighter pilot. I will say though, the next real innovation for a Stealth aircraft, will be to go supersonic (X-59 testing) without a sonic boom.

Still think it should’ve been named the B-3

I would think the B-21 has the same advantage over a B-2 that the F-35 has over the F-22, electronic sensor and information integration as well as electronic upgradeability.

TLDW; B2 B21 same same

1:13 lol "looks exactly the same" knowledge of aircrafts is outstanding

B-21 budget raider.

In aviation currant plane made public currently is old tech 😉even though it's new to the public.

We defiantly have better tech that is still not being disclosed to the public.

Given how crucial the B-21 would be in a conflict with China over Taiwan, I don't understand why the USAF hasn't asked Northrop to accelerate its development. Why not offer Northrop enough money to hire so many people and pay so much over-time that people are working feverishly on the B-21 perhaps up to seven days a week, 24 hours a day? Doing that would of course increase costs dramatically but deterring China seems to justify it. I feel like the military should recognize that for right now funds should be shifted from spending on the Army to spending more on the USAF and Navy. Then later, once the USAF and Navy are in a strong enough to clearly beat China if not deter it, the military can spend more on the Army to make up for the lesser spending now.

Do some research on the Windecker Eagle 1969 the first Composite FAA licensed aircraft The GGGfather of modern stealth .

Whatever you do, DON’T talk about the interesting things like the electrogravity features of this aircraft just like it’s predecessor the B2. #Sarcasm

The economic version of B2 LOL

When you fellas gonna talk about adaptive engines vs the same ole same ole fixed ratio traditional styles that everything jet powered has had since forever ?

Why does the B-21 have a designation that comes before the F-22? Where is the F-21? Shouldn't the Raider be designated the B-3x?

I'm no scientist but you are definitely losing 20,000 feet doing a 180 turn.

Half the size, double the cost

Can’t wait this to fly over Palestine

I find it funny how all those "cool" fighter pilots have no clue about technological and strategic principles of other types of aircraft other than fighters. I am not saying that I do have clue but I expected at least some insight from the "cool" pilots...

Looks more of a gimmick

Northrop wasn’t shy about showing you how many years advanced Jack’s mind was ahead of the industry. When you walked through the doors into the main hallway in the design center in Pico Rivera, the line drawings of the YB-49 and the B-2 overlayed one another. Dimensionally they were identical. The Tacit Blue mods for control surfaces and RCS reduction were the differences most obvious to a casual observer. Basically, Jack Northrop built the B-2 prototype in the late 1940’s. Consider that for a moment.