Photo: Staff Sgt. Jeremy Mosier, United States Air Force (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons (source)
Northrop Grumman and the Department of the Air Force have begun building a new B-21 Raider final assembly line in Palmdale, Calif., at Air Force Plant 42, the Air Force said in a release published Thursday, Oct. 8. Ground was broken on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
The project covers over 1 million square feet of new buildings and is part of an agreement between the service and the company to raise the bomber's annual production capacity by 25%, according to the Air Force. The service said it is using $4.5 billion that Congress authorized and appropriated in fiscal 2025 reconciliation legislation to speed production of the 100 aircraft in the approved program.
"This groundbreaking represents more than construction," said Gen. Dale White, the director of Critical Major Weapon Systems, who reports to the deputy secretary of war. He said the investment adds the industrial capacity needed to field the bomber faster.
Col. Nicholas Jordan, the B-21 program director in the Rapid Capabilities Office, said the Palmdale work will provide "the infrastructure, workforce and manufacturing capacity" to deliver aircraft at a higher rate.
Money and open questions
Northrop is adding $2.5 billion of its own money to the production push, CEO Kathy Warden said in April, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink wrote on social media that the service is "moving fast to build B-21s."
Neither the Air Force nor Northrop has disclosed what the new facilities cost, when they will be finished or the yearly output of the expanded line, Defence Blog reported. The production rate is classified, the outlet said. Northrop builds the Raider at Plant 42 with a supplier base of over 400 companies across 40-plus states, and opened a new B-21 manufacturing building in Layton, Utah, on Sept. 9, according to Defence Blog.
The program of record is at least 100 bombers. In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress the service will need "a lot more" than that, and the heads of U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command have backed a larger buy, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. The service has not formally committed to more than 100.
Testing and what's next
Two B-21s are known to be in flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. "We are actively testing right now," Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro, who leads the Air Force Test Center, said at an Oct. 6 event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
The Air Force said the program remains on track to have bombers at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., in 2027. Any decision to buy more than 100 aircraft will likely surface in the Air Force's fiscal 2028 budget request, expected in spring 2027, a senior Air Force planning official said earlier this year, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Sources
- U.S. Air Force: DAF, Northrop Grumman break ground on B-21 production facility (2026-10-08)
- Air & Space Forces Magazine: B-21 Testing, Manufacturing Ramp Up: ‘We’re Moving Fast’ (2026-10-07)
- Defence Blog: U.S. Air Force breaks ground on new B-21 assembly line (2026-10-07)
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