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Air Force Vice Chief of Staff: First Flight of B-21 Expected Around Late 2021

Air Force Vice Chief of Staff: First Flight of B-21 Expected Around Late 2021
Artist's rendering of the Air Force's Long Range Strike Bomber, designated B-21. Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the program, doesn't mention the B-21 in its earnings releases because it is classified. The company said classified manned aircraft contributed to higher sales in 2019 and will do so again in 2020. Image: Air Force.

The Air Force is currently expecting to see first flight of the B-21 next-generation bomber around December 2021, the service’s number-two military official revealed July 24. Speaking at an Air Force Association Mitchell Institute event on Capitol Hill, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson said according to a software app he tracks on the new bomber’s progress, the service is “something like 863 days until first flight of the B-21,” which would mean a date around Dec. 3, 2021.…

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