The B-2 plane, Spirit of Missouri on display is the first operational aircraft. The B-21 bomber is now taking shape in these same Palmdale facilities, 30 years after the B-2's first flight. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
L.A. Times: 30 years after the B-2 took flight, Northrop is applying lessons to a new stealth bomber
PALMDALE, Calif. — At the dawn of the stealth age, the technology involved in making a plane nearly invisible to radar was mysterious and, to some critics, dubious. There were concerns that the special coating on the U.S. Air Force’s new stealth bomber would melt in the rain.
Nonetheless, 30 years ago the first B-2 bomber took to the air from the Plant 42 runway in Palmdale, Calif. Aviation visionary Jack Northrop’s dream of a “flying wing” plane — one with no tail — was realized, Air Force Maj. Gen. James Dawkins Jr. recalled Tuesday at a commemorative event at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s factory here.
Today, Northrop is ramping up development of a replacement stealth bomber, the B-21. Dawkins spoke near two beige buildings, built in the last year, which are part of a contract likely related to that next generation of aircraft. Signs of expansion at the facility were visible Tuesday; behind the gathered crowd, a construction crew used equipment to move mounds of dirt into a dump truck.
Northrop Grumman officials and defense analysts say the defense giant will take advantage of lessons learned from the B-2 and use them in its work on the B-21 bomber, which will be assembled at the Palmdale site. That plane could fly for the first time in 2021 and is expected to enter service in the 2020s.
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WNU Editor: I am still skeptical that it is going to cost $500 million per bomber.
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