Northrop Grumman chair, chief executive officer and president Kathy Warden said the program's progress positions the team to accelerate production of the aircraft. "Northrop Grumman has invested more than $5 billion in digital engineering and manufacturing infrastructure, and we are ready to produce B-21 faster," she said.
The first B-21 aircraft remains on schedule to arrive at Ellsworth Air Force Base in 2027, according to the company. Final assembly takes place at Northrop Grumman's facility in Palmdale, California, with additional manufacturing work distributed across other sites in the United States.
Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, said thousands of company employees are focused on delivering the aircraft to Air Force operators and maintainers. "We have delivered continued outstanding performance on B-21 in ground and flight test, in partnership with the Air Force," he said, adding that the aircraft is designed to secure American air power well into the future.
The B-21 is moving through ground and flight testing with what the company describes as strong results. Northrop Grumman reports that aircraft in the test program are outperforming digital model predictions, which it says reinforces confidence in both the design and production quality.
A digital engineering environment supports the test effort by enabling detailed flight test planning and real time analysis of collected data. The company states that this environment has increased test cadence and efficiency as the test fleet expanded in 2025, and that maintainers with the Combined Test Force can prepare an aircraft for another test flight as soon as the next day.
Northrop Grumman characterizes the B-21 Raider as a sixth generation stealth bomber. The aircraft incorporates low observable features informed by decades of operational experience, intended to penetrate sophisticated air defenses and operate in contested environments. The company also points to updated low observable processes that are expected to simplify maintenance and reduce costs compared with earlier systems.
The bomber is designed to provide strategic deterrence by holding targets at risk anywhere in the world. It is intended to carry both conventional and nuclear payloads, giving national leaders a range of survivable response options. An open systems architecture is central to the design, with the company planning to use it to integrate new mission systems and weapons over time.
Northrop Grumman highlights what it calls a mission driven partnership with the U.S. Air Force on the B-21 program. The company cites an agreement that gives the service access to data including the aircraft's digital twin, which it says is meant to support more affordable and agile upgrades. Officials say government and industry teams are using this collaboration to demonstrate the bomber's capabilities against representative threats.
The company reports investing more than $5 billion in digital and manufacturing infrastructure specific to the B-21 program. Those investments support a digital ecosystem that combines advanced software, manufacturing and engineering tools. Northrop Grumman says this environment has already cut software certification time in half and allows real time validation of aircraft performance during tests.
Multiple B-21 aircraft are in flight test, according to Northrop Grumman, and the Combined Test Force of company and Air Force personnel is presented as an example of rapid government industry cooperation. Alongside flight activities, engineers are running ground tests to confirm the aircraft can operate under extreme mission conditions. The company says these results continue to exceed the predictions generated by digital modeling.
Advanced manufacturing methods are central to efforts to increase B-21 production rates. Northrop Grumman cites digital and augmented reality tools that let technicians visualize work and resolve potential issues before they handle the aircraft. These tools are designed to connect technicians and design engineers more directly, with the goal of improving efficiency and developing expertise across the manufacturing workforce.
The company has expanded manufacturing technology and capacity at facilities across the United States to scale up production of the bomber. It says these investments support a higher production tempo for an aircraft intended to project U.S. power globally.
Related Links
B-21 Raider at Northrop Grumman
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com
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