Message posted by Vahe Demirjian (Member since 04/28/2022) on May 22, 2024 at 17:51:31 PST:
The "RQ-180" is a different aircraft than the B-21 even though both are similar to the Lockheed P-175 Polecat and the Lockheed Martin/Boeing NGLRS strategic bomber design of 2008 in having a center section with a single sawtooth trailing edge and thin high-aspect ratio backswept wings. There's been chatter that Northrop Grumman's experience with flight testing of the "RQ-180" probably endeared the US Air Force to award the LRSB contract to Northrop Grumman. If the B-21 were configured as an unmanned aircraft, it would be better only carrying conventional weapons (the MX-767 Banshee and MX-1457 Brass Ring which were unmanned nuclear-armed derivatives of the B-29 and B-47 respectively ended up being cancelled in the 1950s without being built, so a bomber in unmanned iteration carrying nuclear weapons seems too ambitious).
In Reply to: Re: B21 Test Flights posted by Crammy Jr on May 22, 2024 at 16:00:05 PST:
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