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LRSB unveiled

Koen L

By Koen L,
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Koen L

Koen L

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The B-21? WTF? What happened to the B-3, B-4, B-5, B-6....B-19, and B-20?

"The Air Force settled on the B-21 designation as recognition that LRS-B is the first bomber of the 21st century, the statement noted." - Lame, I know!

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Jennings

Jennings

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So, as usual, to hell with the entire MDS system. The MDS system was implemented for a reason. Good thing I'm not active duty Air Force anymore. I'd end up breaking rocks at Leavenworth for sure. I'd kill somebody for stupidity.

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fulcrum1

fulcrum1

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So, as usual, to hell with the entire MDS system. The MDS system was implemented for a reason. Good thing I'm not active duty Air Force anymore. I'd end up breaking rocks at Leavenworth for sure. I'd kill somebody for stupidity.

Hey, I just learned that the actual rock walls to the old historic USDB prison were built by the prisoners.

Edited by fulcrum1
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Exhausted

Exhausted

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Here it is guys! May I present to you the first bomber of the 21st century, B-21!!!!!!

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North_American_XB-21_4.jpg

And the new low noise engines by cox:

cox%20049%20PT-19%20model%20airplane%20engine%201.jpg

Edited by Exhausted
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wardog

wardog

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Hard to imagine Boeing and LM got beat by what essentially looks like a modified B-2. Considering the B-21 has the same stealth blended body style as the B-2, It's safe to assume that by the time this platform is fielded, probably at least 10 years from now, the enemy won't have made any strides forward in radar technology or stealth detection capabilities....wait, don't they have that now??

E.

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Trigger

Trigger

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Hard to imagine Boeing and LM got beat by what essentially looks like a modified B-2.

That's exactly why it's easy to imagine this is why Boeing lost. The whole point of LRS-B was to get something fielded that was low-risk. First, and probably most importantly, Northrop Grumman is the only company in history to design, develop, manufacture, and maintain a long-range stealth bomber—the B-2 Spirit. Thanks to pre-award briefings, we know that the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office managing the acquisition saw the LRS-B program as a way of advancing the application of new stealth technologies, not only in survivability but also in producability and maintainability. Northrop Grumman has advanced the state of the art in all- aspect stealth aircraft from modernizing the B-2, developing the stealthy X-47B unmanned aircraft (a candidate to help solve the U.S. Navy’s long-range strike dilemma), and working other programs.

We also knew before the recent announcement that the LRS-B program was designed to combine the very best practices in integrating advanced propulsion, imbedded antennas, self-defense systems, electronic and communication suites, and manufacturing techniques. Northrop Grumman brought to the competition not only corporate expertise in these areas, but also extensive expertise in the subsystems so critical to stealthy aircraft.

The company not only owns and maintains the B-2, but builds the radars and communications systems for the low-observable F-22 and F-35. Manufacturing and integrating systems that rely on electronic emissions compatible with stealth raises many challenges, but Northrop Grumman has decades of successful experience to leverage. Savvy observers have noted that Lockheed Martin comes to Northrop Grumman for that expertise.

Northrop Grumman also has an ace up its sleeve in the manufacturing capabilities inherent in the company. Northrop Grumman not only has a factory designed to build B-2 bombers, but that factory is producing F-35 stealth fuselages today on an award-winning automated assembly line. Boeing has never produced an operational stealth aircraft. Furthermore, the Air Force has announced that the initial buy will be in five lots for a total of 21 aircraft, or about four aircraft per lot.

The B-21 is based on an earlier design (that was optimized for high-altitude) for what eventually became the B-2...

Northrop_ATB.png

...whereas whatever Boeing/Lockheed proposed was all-new (and a higher risk)

It's safe to assume that by the time this platform is fielded, probably at least 10 years from now, the enemy won't have made any strides forward in radar technology or stealth detection capabilities....wait, don't they have that now??

Every time you recycle something Dave Majumdar writes, God kills a child's puppy.

36112711.jpg

A low frequency radar, comparable in size to a normal X-Band radar has very poor resolution. To fix this problem the low frequency radar must be built as large as possible to allow an engagement, however this only works on ground based radar stations and is problematic on aircraft. The accuracy of those radars is also inferior to normal radars, and the frequency must be higher to get a lock with a missile, so that precision targeting cannot be done like on X-Band radars.

First off, the antenna has to grow in proportion to the wavelength in order to maintain a narrow beam and adequate resolution. The ‘mobile’ Soviet VHF radars are cumbersome, and early-warning radars such as Tall King (P-14) are large fixed structures and provide coverage of only one sector. Despite the size of their antennae, they are not accurate enough to manage a complete engagement.

In air-to-air combat L-band using radar can be easily detected using passive detection, long before it will be able to track you. Low band radars are not an Ideal solution against VLO aircraft, because to detect them the radar stations must be very, very large, and they'd be much too large to be mounted on an aircraft. And they're unable to provide weapon guidance because of bad resolution and lack of accuracy

Edited by Trigger
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TaiidanTomcat

TaiidanTomcat

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Posted

Hard to imagine Boeing and LM got beat by what essentially looks like a modified B-2. Considering the B-21 has the same stealth blended body style as the B-2, It's safe to assume that by the time this platform is fielded, probably at least 10 years from now, the enemy won't have made any strides forward in radar technology or stealth detection capabilities....wait, don't they have that now??

E.

Not really no.

Stealth isn't going away folks. The same service that has been using it in realistic training, simulations, and combat on multiple occasions is opting for yet another stealth platform.

The only reason stealth is suddenly in question, is the US built "exportable stealth" in the F-35, and that has all the other fighter companies in a highly competitive market united in trying to say it now suddenly doesn't work. If stealth works, only F-35. If stealth "doesn't work" its suddenly anyone's game.

So again, we see the USAF going for stealth. In the FBI, they'd call that a "clue" about its relevant utility on a battlefield.

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