Wednesday, May 22, 2019

U.S. Air Force Rushing to Prepare Facilities To House Its B-21 Fleet


Warzone/The Drive: Major Expansion Underway At Edwards AFB Ahead Of B-21 Raider's Arrival

A big burst of construction has taken place since the New Year at Edwards AFB's South Base facility where the B-21 is slated to begin testing soon.

The B-21 Raider is coming to Edwards Air Force Base, when exactly remains unknown, but recent satellite imagery shows a number of new structures have been built over the last eight months at the historic installation's South Base facility. This is where the B-21 program, and potentially others that are part of a family of next-generation systems related to it, are set to be tested in the coming years.

This was the case as far back as 2011. During a visit to Edwards AFB at that time, I noticed the B-1B and B-52H bomber contingent had been relocated to the base's main apron after calling South Base home for decades. This move was done to accommodate classified programs including the B-21. The B-2 test contingent at the base will presumably continue its life-long tenancy at South Base, as well.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: There is also a push to build more bombers than originally planned .... The Air Force Needs 20 B-2 Bombers, 75 B-52 and 288 B-21 Stealth Bombers (National Interest).

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