B-21 Testing, Manufacturing Ramp Up: ‘We’re Moving Fast’

Northrop Grumman has broken ground on a major new production facility for the B-21 Raider, the company and the Air Force announced Oct. 6. The construction comes as a top service official said testing on the bomber is going well in the lead up to its planned introduction into the operational fleet in 2027.

“It’s more than construction,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink wrote in a social media post. “We’re moving fast to build B-21s!”

The Air Force Test Center has likewise been moving quickly to test the bomber ahead of its introduction into service next year. Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro, head of the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up when asked about the program at an Oct. 6 event. The aircraft first flew in 2023, and two bombers are currently known to be undergoing testing at the base. 

“I can’t give you many details about specifics on how it’s going, but I am very closely tied into that program and have been getting regular updates,” Massaro said during a discussion hosted by AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “We are actively testing right now.”

Less than 30 miles away, Northrop is already building B-21s at its Air Force Plant 42 facility in Palmdale, Calif., but the new construction will add 1 million square feet of production space. Meink said it will be the “final assembly line” for new bombers.

In February, Air Force officials said they had agreed on a plan with Northrop to increase B-21 production capacity by 25 percent, using $4.5 billion from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” legislation passed in 2025. Northrop is also investing $2.5 billion of its own money in bolstering B-21 production, CEO Kathy Warden said in April.

The new groundbreaking, which occurred Sept. 29, is “a significant step toward expanding production capacity for the B-21 Raider and delivering combat capability to the Joint Force faster,” the service wrote in a photo caption provided of the groundbreaking.

Increased production capacity is likely—but not confirmed—to lead to more B-21s overall. While the official program of record is for a minimum of 100 bombers, U.S. Strategic Command boss Adm. Richard Correll and U.S. Pacific Command head Adm. Samuel Paparo have advocated for a larger B-21 buy, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told lawmakers in April that the Air Force will need “a lot more” than 100 B-21s in the future.

The Air Force has yet to formally commit to more than 100 bombers, but top leaders have indicated they are open to doing so.

“At some point in the future, we’ll consider additional buys,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach told Air & Space Forces Magazine in July when asked about increasing the size of the future B-21 fleet. “One of the things we’re talking to Northrop about is how could we do that in a way that doesn’t stretch out.”

Exactly how many the service may buy will likely come out with the Air Force’s 2028 budget request, expected in spring 2027, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs Lt. Gen. David H. Tabor said earlier this year.

Meanwhile, at Edwards, the Air Force is pushing a novel approach to testing by having developmental test pilots fly alongside operational test pilots, the head of the Test Center said.

“One of the areas that we’re really getting into, which we have done in the past, but in a big way, we’re moving forward in programs like the B-21 … is that integrated test,” Massaro said, which is “making sure that the warfighter and our operators have earlier insight into a lot of the developmental test work to be able to get information to make comments and understanding of what things might need to change earlier in a development cycle, but then also influence and discuss how this is going to be operated best. You’re bringing that operator in earlier into the Test Center test execution phase.”

“That integrated test construct is something that we’ve been very much focused on more often in a lot more programs, and that is something on the B-21 that I would like to highlight,” he added.