The U.S. Air Force’s New Stealth Bomber Looks Awfully Familiar

The U.S. Air Force’s new stealth bomber looks a lot like its old stealth bomber.

That’s no accident. The B-21 — the outline and designation of which Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James revealed in February — is being designed by Northrop Grumman, manufacturer of the B-21 predecessor, the B-2.

Both of the stealth bombers — old and new — share the same basic “flying wing” shape. Indeed, all the major U.S. aerospace firms have tinkered with tailless flying wings as the basis for new radar-evading warplanes. Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which lost to Northrop in the B-21 contest, experimented with flying wings.

Lockheed’s Polecat drone looks a lot like the B-2 and B-21. And Boeing’s Long Range Strike Bomber concept also shares similarities with the other bombers. Learn more in War Is Boring’s video featurette, above.