The United States Air Force’s Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider will formally enter service later this decade, and Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB), SD, will become the first Main Operating Base and formal training unit for the future backbone of the bomber fleet. This month, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall approved the second and third basing locations for the Air Force’s newest bomber.
As expected, those bases include Whiteman AFB, MO; and Dyess AFB, TX, in that order. Each will receive aircraft as they become available. Current plans call for the Air Force to acquire at least 100 of the advanced bombers, while some military analysts have called for the air service to purchase at least 200 Raiders.
The aircraft was officially unveiled in December 2022 and is currently in low-rate initial production (LRIP) after making its maiden flight last November. Since then, it has been executing flight tests. While similar in appearance to the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, the Raider is a generational leap in aircraft technology and development.
According to the U.S. Air Force, the B-21 Raider is a “dual nuclear and conventionally capable, stealth, penetrating, long-range strike platform.”
The B-21 will replace the aging Rockwell B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit in the coming decade. Until that time, the Air Force Global Strike Command will remain ready and provide strike options for the country by continuing to maintain, modernize, and keep its B-1 and B-2 bombers in service.
“We continue to achieve B-21 production milestones; through digital engineering and open architecture design, we are getting an agile strategic deterrent that delivers a decisive response as required,” said Gen. Thomas Bussiere, Air Force Global Strike Command commander.
Ellsworth Readying for the B-21
Construction projects for the bomber hangers and other facilities are well underway at Ellsworth. The base, which is located near Rapid City, is already one of the largest employers in the state and according to a 2017 estimate, it had an annual economic impact of over $350 million.
The base had faced the possibility of closure in 2005, and it was even briefly on the Pentagon’s list of military bases that should be closed or relocated. However, in March 2019, it was selected as the preferred base to host the first Raider bomber unit and first formal training unit.
Ellsworth is currently home to the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW), which is assigned to the Global Strike Command’s Eighth Air Force, while the 28 BW is one of the Air Force’s two B-1B Lancer wings. It has hosted the B-1B Lancers since 1986, replacing the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress fleet.
The base currently operates 27 Lancers, and those bombers are expected to be retired as the B-21 enters service.
Whiteman and Dyess – Bomber Bases
Whiteman AFB may have seemed like the more obvious choice for the B-21 as it is the current home of the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of 19 B-2 Spirits. The first B-2 arrived at the base in December 1993, and as the program was scaled back, all 21 – one prototype and 20 production aircraft – were based at Whiteman.
Two B-2 Spirits have been lost in crashes – the last occurring in December 2022.
Since 1994, Whiteman has been the home to the 442nd Fighter Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command, which operates the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II – an aircraft that will be retired by the end of the decade.
Dyess AFB is the home of the 7th Bomb Wing, the second B-1B Lancer strategic bomber wing, and it is assigned to the Global Strike Command Eighth Air Force. The 317th Airlift Wing, assigned to Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force, is also a tenant unit at the base. It is one of four worldwide active-duty locations for the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft.
The first B-1B arrived in June 1985, replacing the B-52. It assumed nuclear alert status in October 1986. Dyess became part of Global Strike Command in October 2015.
While Ellsworth has received significant upgrades to host the B-21, it remains unclear if Whiteman and Dyess will receive similar enhancements – or if the bases will make do with the facilities used to host the B-2 Spirit and B-1B Lancer respectively.
