B-2 Spirit, B-21 Raider Draw Inevitable Comparisons.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

PALMDALE, California --Only a few minutes before the new B-21 Raider was rolled out of its hangar in Northrop Grumman's high desert facility, its predecessor the B-2 Spirit flew above the crowd as a company employee sang the National Anthem.

Comparisons between the two strategic bombers are inevitable as they are similar in shape--both so-called "flying wings."

Northrop Grumman also built the B-2, which made its public debut in Air Force Hangar 42 at the contractor's Palmdale factory almost 34 years ago.

Prior to the roll-out ceremony for the Raider, Northrop's program manager for the B-2 Sean Reynolds stood in front of the Spirit of California, one of the 20 stealthy bombers remaining in the Air Force inventory.

"As the world's only long-range penetrating strike platform, you can tell them the flying wing is here and alive and well," he told reporters.

It may look so, but it's not the same aircraft that the Air Force began operating at the tail end of the Cold War.

The Spirit of California was wrapping up a year-long refurbishment where it had its stealth coating stripped off and replaced with the latest top-secret radar-resistant material, Reynolds said.

"Then we go through modifications--both structurally and with the avionics components--and refurbish them, pulling it all back together within 365 days," he said. B-2S come in for a refitting every nine years, he added.

The new tech and materials can be compared to the iPhones of a decade ago and what the public is using today. "That's the technology advancements that you're seeing here on the material side," he said.

Although he was prevented from talking specifics, the radar cross measurement, the number the program uses to assess how "invisible" the B-2 is to enemy sensors, is "significantly improved" over how it performed 10 years ago, he said.

After some flight checks the refurbished B-2 will be returned to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, he said.

Choosing the flying wing design wasn't a given, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics...