Journalist: Mubeen Ashraf

Title: ‘Deterrence the American way’: US unveil most advanced B-21 Bomber.

Thumbnail: B-21 Raider gets unshrouded!

Description:

Amid the heightened geopolitical tensions between the US, Russia and China, the United States
puts on display the B-21 Raider: a bat-shaped stealth bomber capable of delivering
conventional and nuclear payloads in crewed and uncrewed configurations to reiterate
functional deterrence.

Script:

1. The US unveiled its B-21 radar-evading nuclear stealth bomber at Air Force Plant 42 in
Palmdale, California amid tensions with Russia and China.

2. B-21 has been named officially as “Raider” while inspired by the improbable 1942 U.S.
air raid on Tokyo during World War II.

3. B-21 being next in line to B-2 is a thin grey aircraft resembling a stingray capable of
flying at subsonic speeds to lower the infrared and acoustic signatures. The bomber is
powered by Jet engines embedded into the wings like shark gills. High-tech coating
materials are applied to the rounded exterior, creating a sponge-like skin reputed to
absorb radar waves as they strike the aircraft.

4. Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corp won the contract for building strategic
bombers in Oct 2015. To rejuvenate the creaky bomber fleet,

5. Northrop will produce at least 100 B-21s for the Air Force in the coming years at a
current cost of $692 million per bomber.
6. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is deterrence the
American way". Furthermore, he asserted, "We are again making it plain to any
potential foe: the risks and costs of aggression far outweigh any conceivable gains"
(video)

7. Air Force leaders tout B-21 as the backbone of its future bomber fleet, being capable of
delivering both nuclear and conventional weapons.

8. Tom Jones, president of Northrop Grumman’s Aeronautics Systems unit, praised B-21 as
the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft with advanced stealth capabilities, open-
systems architecture meant to enable future modernization and its use of data-sharing
technologies as part of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2, effort.
(video)

9. Recently, Russian and Chinese strategic bombers flew a joint eight-hour patrol over the
Western Pacific.

10. However, the Chinese Defense Ministry downplayed the mission as a "routine" effort for
bolstering bilateral Defence ties.

11. Success or failure of the B-21 program may determine whether the U.S. retains a long-
range bomber advantage over its global rivals or saddles taxpayers with interest
payments on yet another gold-plated budget buster for years to come.