"Cerberus" flew. What's next?
So, a new milestone in stories US Air Force passed: The B-21 “Raider” made its first and successful flight. Northrop Grumman and the US Air Force may not have wasted time and money in frightening quantities, but we will not rush to conclusions, although we will allow ourselves a few.
“Cerberus,” which is the name of the first B-21 “Raider,” represents a new stage for the US Air Force and it is clear that they have certain plans for it.
In general, Cerberus is from ancient Greek mythology, a cute three-headed dog, a servant of the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, Hades, who guards the entrance to this kingdom and does not allow the dead into the world of the living and vice versa. The brainchild of Typhon and Echidna, a couple who gave birth to many different mythological entities such as the Chimera, the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion and other equally effective and charming phenomena.
“Northrop”, “Boeing” and others are not much inferior to mythological heroes in terms of creating something homicidal. So a certain continuity is visible, and therefore there is nothing surprising in such a name for the B-21 “Raider”. Moderately dark, moderately in terms of hints.
The B-21 flew.
Many people saw this, the video was, as expected, circulated, which is also without doubt, but if “Cerberus” had slightly hit the ground, I’m sure they wouldn’t have shown us anything. And so, everyone could without interference enjoy the sight of this unique machine cutting through the air of the test site.
Many people were interested in the long cable and antenna that the B-21 towed behind it during takeoff.
In general, nothing surprising at all, this is a common device for initial flight tests. This "tail cone" is used to record "clean" static air measurements that are not disturbed by the aircraft behind its tail. This sensor is in addition to the aircraft's flight test data acquisition system sensors located on the lower forward left side of the aircraft.
These precision data collection instruments, in addition to the many standard sensors that are installed around the aircraft and the specialized test equipment located inside, are an important addition because they collect a picture of the vortices produced by the aircraft in the air, which in turn provides a source of data for Doppler enemy radars.
So, judging by the photo, work has been in full swing since the first flight of the B-21 Raider.
What can be said in terms of any conclusions regarding the aircraft? The process of development and construction has been going on since 2014, and now, almost ten years after the start, the result has been achieved. Of course, the work did not start from scratch; when working on the B-21, everything possible from the B-2 Spirit was used, and development of this aircraft began back in 1979. That is, by and large, over such a number of years, a simply huge amount of information and tests on aircraft of a similar type has been accumulated.
Of course, the B-21 is very different from the B-2, primarily in the complete absence of a tail unit. What people took as a semblance of plumage and somehow tried to predict its use in flight, in reality turned out to be completely different.
What stuck out on both sides of the fuselage “hump” turned out to be just engine air intakes, and not what was attributed to them.
At the same time, the B-21's conformal air intakes are one of the most famous exotic features of the development program. More precisely, they were one of those hemorrhoids that kept design engineers awake. Stealth air intakes are one of the most important characteristics of a stealth aircraft.
Separating the turbulent air in the boundary layer and getting enough air through the serpentine ducts used to hide the highly reflective surfaces of the engine fans so as not to choke the aircraft engines is a major design challenge.
Photos of the same B-2s show much more prominent serrated air intakes, including a separation plate between the fuselage and the intake port that separates the turbulent boundary layer air from the stable air entering the intake.
Compared to the B-21, the B-2 has much more prominent air intakes with scalloped splitters along the lower edges. They feed serpentine ducts to the engines hidden deep in the B-2's inner wings. Obtaining sufficient air during takeoff and landing is accomplished by butterfly or scoop-like auxiliary inlet hatches that open at the top of the mixed air intakes/nacelles.
The B-21 does the same with relatively large triangular hatch-like intakes that open vertically back from the intake ports. The scheme is similar to V-2. This provides additional air flow for the Cerberus engines, which are still unknown in terms of number and model. This gives the aircraft a distinctive “horned” devilish appearance during ground taxiing, as well as during takeoff and landing.
Regarding the engines, based on the size of the aircraft, it is unlikely that there are less than four of them. The B-21 is not much inferior in size to the B-2, which had 4 F118-GE-100 engines. Considering the specifics of the aircraft, that is, the “flying wing” design with engines hidden inside, it can be assumed that the B-21 will have engines from the F118-GE-100 family, or rather, their development and modernization suggests itself.
The dimensions of the B-21 are still very difficult to estimate; the aircraft was filmed in such a way that it is difficult to tie it to objects on the ground in order to assess the scale. However, they say that the B-2 is slightly larger than the B-21, but not critically.
V-2 has the following parameters:
Wingspan, m: 52,40
Aircraft Length, m: 20,90
The height of the aircraft, m: 5,45
Bearing surface area, m2: 464,50
Normal takeoff weight, kg: 168435
And these are the dimensions of an aircraft capable of covering about 11 km on one refueling, carrying 000 kg of bombs and missiles. With in-flight refueling, the flight range increases to 18 km.
Even if the B-21 is smaller, the tasks assigned to it mean that it simply cannot be much smaller.
We can also make a preliminary conclusion that the operational ceiling of the B-21 will be exactly higher than that of the B-2 (12 m), since “stealth” and “invisibility” are other names for stealth that do not in any way reflect the ability to actually fly stealthily without being detected.
Today, ground-based air defense systems, as the practice of modern conflicts show, represent a very high-precision and effective weapon, capable of hitting both subtle and “invisible” targets. Therefore, no matter how well stealth has been developed, it is not a panacea for detecting an aircraft by various radars.
Although it is clear that it was on camouflage that the engineers worked as sophisticatedly as possible. It is possible that the black areas between the B-21's engine nacelles and the central hump of the fuselage towards the rear of the aircraft are experiments with new types of reflective surface coatings for the aircraft. Perhaps, in our case, this is part of the camouflage of the engines.
Overall, the B-21's profile is remarkably sleek, and its air intake and engine humps are much less noticeable than those of the B-2 when viewed from the side.
The B-21's belly is perhaps the most intriguing part of the aircraft we might see on its first flight.
Its main weapons compartment is clearly visible in the photo and video. It is much smaller than the B-2, but it was known in advance that this would be the case since the aircraft likely had less than half the payload of the B-2. However, this can be compensated for by the use of the latest types of weapons.
The B-21 is unlikely to be able to carry two Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)/GBU-57, which weighs 13 kg. But one such bomb could be carried on the B-600. It's possible that the bay is even too small for the MOP and a new, smaller deep-penetrating weapon will take its place, but that seems less likely at this time.
The bay is likely to be smarter and more easily reconfigurable for different weapons options than its predecessor, using the aircraft's open architecture systems to more easily integrate new weapons, decoys and air-launched unmanned aerial vehicles. This is the essence of the new strategic bomber, designed to form the basis of the power of the US Air Force.
One of the main questions that remains open is whether the B-21 has smaller bays for secondary/defensive weapons. In general, in theory there should be, because a stealth aircraft should still be able to fend off attacks using air-to-air missiles or use Stand-In Attack Weapon (SiAW) to break into areas well protected by air defense forces.
Using up space on the main drum launcher for these weapons seems a bit wasteful, so it would be helpful to have smaller, shallower auxiliary bays to accommodate auxiliary weapons. This appears to be the case in the form of hatches next to the main weapons bay, but it is unclear whether they are for maintenance, including access to the engines, or whether they are intended for weapon storage. The B-2 also has similar panels so it's hard to tell, but the internal compartments next to the main compartment are intriguing.
Added to the possibility of additional weapon compartments on the sides of the main one is the fact that the B-21, although it uses one cargo compartment instead of two, as on the B-2, there are already issues of more efficient placement of ammunition.
A few words about the rear.
Stealth aircraft exhaust is critical to this type of stealth visibility, both in the radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) spectrums. It is thanks to them that there is a real possibility of detecting the most well-camouflaged aircraft from radar beams.
In this case, the exhaust pipes are very similar to the B-2 exhaust pipes, although they appear even more conformal, with very deeply recessed engines and smaller dimensions than their predecessors. Here it would really be interesting to know what kind of design the B-21 has, two or four engines. If the Cerberus has four engines, then they should be quite small in size and located close to the axis of the aircraft.
The B-2 could fly quite normally with two engines turned off on one side; accordingly, the B-21 should be able to carry out such a flight.
There is a big difference in appearance between the aircraft: the B-21 has a noticeable flare from the fuselage "hump" at the top of the trailing edge and does not have the variable geometry "beavertail" of its predecessor. This makes sense given that the B-2's operational theory lacked the requirement to penetrate enemy territory at low altitudes, which ultimately led to the aircraft's jagged trailing edge and vertical tail.
And one last thing. What's missing at first glance are the large dual radar arrays seen on the B-2. It is possible that the B-21 will not rely on such large antenna structures, in light of advances in AESA/AFAR technologies. We can assume the use of semi-active antenna systems having smaller dimensions.
On the other hand, conformal antenna support structures (CLAS) can hide large arrays built directly into the B-21 structure. Small conventional AFARs placed around the entire fuselage of the aircraft can provide almost 360-degree visibility. In addition, as technology developments show, these same antennas can be used for both communications and electronic warfare.
Northrop Grumman's much-heralded Multifunctional Electronically Scanned Reconfigurable Integrated Sensors (EMRIS) could form the basis of a broadband, multi-mode array that could provide significant benefits. Northrop Grumman believes that systems built on EMRIS can provide aircraft with a great advantage in the air precisely due to simultaneous scanning, data transmission and, if necessary, electronic warfare.
And here, yes, one step closer to the concept of network-centric warfare, so beloved by the American military. It would seem natural for the B-21 to be built with some ability to control and target other aircraft via data sent to the B-21 via secure networks.
Naturally, some systems and avionics can be added later as other B-21s are built, and more than a dozen of them have already been laid down. Further modernization development of the B-21 is a completely normal path that hundreds of types of aircraft in the world have gone through, and why this cannot happen with the B-21 is a rhetorical question.
Naturally, testing a new aircraft is just a field of searching for answers to questions, and the further appearance of the future aircraft depends on what answers are found during the test program.
In any case, the first step has already been taken, it makes sense to monitor how the overall picture will unfold, because the B-21 is a weapon that is mainly directed against us. It is clear and understandable what to hide. Therefore, it makes sense to watch.
And it would be very nice to know how things are going with PAK DA. If, of course, they are moving forward. This is also a project for an aircraft of the future; it would be nice if these two futures, ours and the American one, developed in parallel, and not with one lagging behind the other.
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