A second B-21 Raider, the nation’s sixth-generation stealth bomber, joins flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Sept. 11, 2025. The program is a cornerstone of the Department of the Air Force’s nuclear modernization strategy, designed to deliver both conventional and nuclear payloads. (Courtesy photo)
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The Air Force released half a dozen new photos of the second B-21 bomber to fly Sept. 12, giving observers and aviation enthusiasts another glimpse of the secretive and hotly anticipated Raider.
The photos, showing the new tail taking off from Palmdale, Calif., and landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., are relatively low-resolution but show off the aircraft’s distinctive delta shape, unusual cockpit windows, tall, triangular doors on its upper surface—one on either side—which open to provide more air to the engines during ground operations, takeoff, and landing, and and some of its control surfaces.
One of the images even shows the second B-21 tail taxiing while what appears to be the first tail is partially visible in a hangar.
Of note, the images also show this B-21 relatively unadorned.
The first aircraft sported extra test equipment on its first flight, with a probe coming out the front and trailing a lengthy cable from the upper surface of the tail. It also featured the emblems of Air Force Materiel Command, Global Strike Command, and the 412th Test Wing behind the cockpit windows, and its tail number and nickname—“Cerebrus”—on the front landing gear door.
In contrast, the second B-21 appeared to have none of those things.
The absence of the testing equipment may mean this will be the radar cross section test aircraft, used to test the B-21’s stealth. It could also mean it is more operationally configured.
One image does appear to show an emblem painted on the inside of the front landing gear door—a Spartan-style helmet with wings.
The Air Force has revealed little about the B-21’s characteristics and capabilities but claims it is the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft.
Photos released by the service or snapped by aviation spotters offer smalldetails on the aircraft, including tidbits on its estimated size, number of weapons bays, control surfaces, exhausts, and more.
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
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The Pentagon did not include any funding for the the E-7A Wedgetail in its 2027 budget request, setting up another round in its fight with Congress over the future of the Boeing-built successor to the E-3 Sentry Airborne Early Warning and Control jet.
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The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request would invest $15 billion in its munitions portfolio, with $10.8 billion earmarked for weapons purchases and another $4.3 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation of new arms.
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