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USAF's B-21 officially named


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Dick Cole is not "a surviving" Raider, he's THE surviving Raider; the last surviving member of that elite band of brave men.  Had the privilege of meeting him on a couple of occasions and one could not wish to meet a more charming gent.  

Edited by mhaselden
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On 9/21/2016 at 0:45 AM, Rob G said:

Or maybe it's meant to be all up-to-date, and should be written B-2.1...

 

I've read that an "unnamed" source at Northrop Grumman said that is exactly why the designation was chosen. I've always wondered if the reason why the price for the B-21 is relatively cheap is because a significant part of the B-2 airframe design will be re-used.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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I understood that the USAF called it B-21 was due to it being Bomber - 21st Century.  Its a shame that the tried and trusted numbering conventions seem to have gone out of the window. Equally annoying is the current US Mil practice of not keeping serial numbers in consecutive order. At one time the first aircraft ordered in a Fiscal Year would have been xx-0001. Nowadays the serials just seem to follow on from the end of the previous year or else are something  completely out of sequence.

 

Mark

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4 hours ago, XV107 said:

You just know that had this been a naming contest for a new RAF bomber we'd have ended up debating whether the RAF should accept that the new type would be known as the BAE Stealthy McBombface B Mk. 1....

 

And Their Airships would probably saddle it with Lancaster II. Because imagination...

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On 22/9/2016 at 7:41 PM, canberraman said:

I understood that the USAF called it B-21 was due to it being Bomber - 21st Century.  Its a shame that the tried and trusted numbering conventions seem to have gone out of the window.

 

Why? Just different, but very clear rules:  F-22 = fighter, expected retirement 22nd Century; F-35 = ...development length and cost of eventual replacement suggest life extension upgrades :rolleyes:.

 

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On 9/20/2016 at 11:45 PM, Rob G said:

B-21? Useless buggers are going backwards. Shouldn't it be B-3?

 

Only if you want John Travolta and Christian Slater to be the pilots and fighting over the nuclear weaponry onboard it. ;)

 

I love B-2.1. As for the name, sure it has a Doolittle connection. But with it being black in color I can't help thinking about a certain NFL franchise based on the west coast of the USA. Maybe they should have called it the Al Davis. :D Of course if Al were still alive, he would probably try to sue the USAF for trademark infringement.

Edited by JMChladek
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