Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told lawmakers April 30 that the Pentagon should consider buying “a lot more” B-21 Raider next-generation stealth bombers, signaling top-level interest in expanding the official program of record for the aircraft.
The Air Force has said that it plans to buy “a minimum” of 100 B-21s. The last two heads of U.S. Strategic Command have both endorsed increasing the B-21 buy to 145 airframes.
While Hegseth did not say precisely how many B-21s the Pentagon should purchase, he said the B-21 and the Air Force’s F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet are “critical” for the U.S.’s future warfighting capabilities and that the Pentagon would increase its planned procurement “where necessary.”
“We have to invest in more capabilities to include the B-21, which is ahead of schedule,” Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We believe we will require a lot more—over 100—in the future.”
The B-21 will eventually replace the B-2 Spirit and B-1B Lancer as those bombers are phased out, according to the Air Force. Since its unveiling in late 2022, the B-21 has been broadly praised by U.S. defense and military officials for being on schedule and meeting or exceeding expectations.
Concern over China’s growing military capabilities and the Pentagon’s need to modernize its nuclear triad have boosted support for the B-21. So has America’s reliance on airpower—including bombers—in recent operations ranging from the Middle East to the Western Hemisphere. In a future fight, the B-21 could be used as a missile-carrying platform in enemy territory, with a greater range than smaller fighter aircraft.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command boss Adm. Samuel Paparo has been a staunch advocate for the aircraft. “I would favor 200 B-21 bombers, not just for the nuclear deterrence mission, but for penetrating strike capabilities,” Paparo, a career naval aviator, said during an April 21 Congressional hearing.
The growing calls for expanding the B-21 buy stand in sharp contrast with its predecessor, the B-2. Though the Air Force initially planned to buy 132 B-2s, raising costs and the end of the Cold War diminished support for that plane, and only 21 B-2s were produced.
“One hundred is a floor; it’s absolutely not a ceiling,” said Mark Gunzinger, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and B-52 pilot. “Demand for bombers in peacetime and in conflict has been in one direction: up. And today’s bomber force is about one-third the size of the force we had at the end of the Cold War.”
The B-21 is currently scheduled to begin operational service at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., in 2027. Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine were questioned about the program by Sen. Mike Rounds (R), who represents the state.
“It’s evident congressional authorizers and appropriators strongly support the B-21, which is a model program,” said Gunzinger, who is now the Director of Future Concepts and Capability Assessments at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “Support is broad and bipartisan. But in the end, the Air Force must ask for the bomber force it needs. It has to clearly specify what its requirements are.”
Earlier this month, B-21 maker Northrop Grumman said it would invest $2.5 billion of its own money to accelerate production of the aircraft. With the first two test aircraft unveiled, the Pentagon plans to spend $6.1 billion on the B-21 in the $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 budget request. Though many details are classified, the spending would focus on the development of the aircraft and low-rate initial production.
Like parts of the B-52 fleet and the Air Force’s remaining fleet of 19 B-2s, the B-21 will be nuclear-capable.
“Highly survivable, the B-21 Raider will be able to penetrate modern air defenses,” states the fiscal 2027 Air Force budget documents state. “The B-21 will deliver the ability to operate in contested environments, counter emerging threats, and support the nuclear triad by providing a visible and flexible nuclear deterrent capability.”
While Caine indicated he was open to exploring an increase in the B-21 buy, he offered a more measured approach than Hegseth on the future of the program at the April 30 hearing. Caine said that he needed to consult the military’s war plans and that any increase would need to be validated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which weighs the U.S. military’s weapons needs.
“We’re glad to see B-21 on the flight path,” Caine said. “On the specific numbers, the one sort of big picture, strategic thing I want to say is we want to make sure as we think through what does airpower of the future look like based on the evolving threat, that we’re staying well in front of it. But I’m on board with assessing the numbers.”
Caine’s comments were similar to those of the previous Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin, who noted the service likely won’t have 100 B-21s until the mid-2030s, and the service may wait to decide how future technologies play out before committing to a higher number of B-21s in the fleet.
“I think there are other technological advancements that we would see to be able to augment that and have a better mix … before we commit to that,” Allvin said of the B-21’s production numbers in 2024.