What You Need to Know: Recent discussions suggest that the B-21 could assume roles initially envisioned for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter program. Rather than serving as a traditional fighter, the B-21 might act as a mothership for unmanned drones that function as fighters.
-This approach aligns with a potential future where unmanned systems play a more significant role in aerial combat, possibly reducing the need for manned fighter aircraft.
-The Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program supports this vision by developing upgradable and potentially disposable drones, signaling a strategic pivot towards autonomous and remotely piloted technologies.
The B-21’s versatility highlights the evolving nature of U.S. air strategy in an increasingly contested space.
Currently, the United States is just one of three nations that operate long-range strategic bombers – with China and Russia – being the other two. Most nations simply don't see a need for bombers as smaller multirole aircraft can accomplish much of what bombers traditionally did.
The U.S. continues to operates bombers as part of its nuclear triad, along with land-based missiles and ballistic missile submarines. The bombers had been used in a conventional role during the Global War on Terror (GWoT), but it is increasingly apparent that multirole fighters like the F-35 Lightning II could be employed in such a role.
Yet, the United States Air Force still maintains an advantage over its near-peer adversaries in that it operates the Northrop B-2 Spirit, the only true stealth bomber, while the air service is now developing its replacement, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider.
The Air Force currently has plans for at least 100 Raiders, while some service officials have called for double that number.
There has been much speculation that the Raider, which is set to enter service in the 2030s replacing the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit, could be the last bomber produced. Advanced in air defenses, artificial intelligence (AI), and stealth – as well as hypersonic missiles – could make large bombers a thing of the past. Perhaps a notional F-53 Lightning III would fill the role of strategic bombers, carrying "stealth hypersonic missiles" among other ordnance.
It is difficult, yet not impossible, to envision the future of military technology.
Lessons from history tell us that engineers at Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and likely dozens of other defense contractors are already envisioning the next big thing, while the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was literally created to work on such projects.
A recent report from Simple Flying offered the ways in which the Air Force could employ the B-21 Raider in roles that the air service envisioned for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter. The author of that piece suggested that the "B-21 Raider appears suited for air-to-air combat," which might seem outlandish at first.
Could we really expect a bomber to operate as a fighter?
As noted, we've already seen the trend move in the opposite direction – fighters taking on a bomber role. While Simple Flying did argue that the bomber "resembles more of a massive stealthy flying supercomputer with the world's most advanced suite of sensors and electronics than a traditional bomber," and has "air-to-air capabilities," it wouldn't actually be the Raider that would be the fighter.
Instead, the Raider could be a mother ship of a force of drones that would serve as the fighters.
The U.S. Air Force has gotten cold feet over the NGAD, in part due to cost, but also because service officials know whatever platform is being developed today could be obsolete in just a few years. Part of the issue is that we've grown accustomed to operating aircraft developed decades ago – like the F-15 Eagle (upgraded for the 21st century as the Eagle II) and the F-16 Fighting Falcon – that we can't remember a time when aircraft were introduced and retired after a decade.
The great leap forward in technology could mean we're back to what the aviation sector experienced in the 1930s. Few aircraft developed at the start of the decade were close to cutting edge by the time World War II began in 1939, and by the end of the conflict, even more advanced aircraft were taking to the skies. The jet age ushered in a wave of innovation. AI, stealth, etc. will do the same.
Thus it may be the fighter – or at least the manned fighter – that heads out to pasture.
The NGAD program was initiated to develop a system of systems, including a manned fighter supported by unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that could serve as loyal wingmen. Perhaps, the Air Force has come to realize it doesn't need an NGAD fighter to replace the F-22 Raptor.
As an air superiority fighter, the F-22 is designed to "kill" an enemy well beyond visual range. It cannot allow an enemy to get within visual range, and the same is also true of the B-21 Raider.
The Raider, not the NGAD could be the replacement for the F-22.
Writing for The National Interest, Brandon J. Weichert suggested, "In an era dominated by anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) threats, the B-21 Raider is viewed as more practical than NGAD, providing over-the-horizon capabilities to maintain U.S. power projection against emerging threats from China and beyond."
The B-21 wouldn't be a fighter.
Instead, here is where the drones could serve as the fighters, possibly even as parasites that are carried by the B-21. The Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which it is developing with the U.S. Navy, could be upgradable and disposable drones with a price tag reflected by those facts. Thus, we could see a future with fighter aircraft but they would be unmanned – sorry fighter jockeys!
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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