--- title: B-21 Bomber: First Image of the Air Force's New Bomber description: The U.S. Air Force unveiled on Friday the first image of its new long-range B-21 bomber developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. canonical: https://time.com/4240055/air-force-bomber-b-21/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-27T18:45:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:26:28.865Z article:section: Politics og:title: See the First Image of the Air Force's New Long-Range Bomber og:description: The program has been kept secret to avoid revealing military secrets. og:url: https://time.com/4240055/air-force-bomber-b-21/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffeeb76cbf54f9be/69887f6f8e06014df6464cf7/b-21.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: An artist rendering shows the first image of a new Northrop Grumman Corp long-range bomber og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the First Image of the Air Force's New Long-Range Bomber twitter:description: The program has been kept secret to avoid revealing military secrets. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffeeb76cbf54f9be/69887f6f8e06014df6464cf7/b-21.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the First Image of the Air Force's New Long-Range Bomber  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 27, 2016 6:45 PM UTC  A new Northrop Grumman Corp. long-range bomber B-21 A new Northrop Grumman Corp. long-range bomber B-21U.S. Air Force/Reuters  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 27, 2016 6:45 PM UTC The U.S. Air Force [unveiled on Friday the first image](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/northrop-bomber-be-designated-u-s-air-force-s-new-n527166?cid=par-time%5F20160227) of its new long-range B-21 bomber developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James revealed the drawing of the aircraft at the Air Force Association’s annual Air Warfare Symposium, Reuters reported. The B-21 will be designed to launch from the U.S. and strike any target around the world and will eventually replace the Air Force B-52 bombers, [according to CNN.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/air-force-reveals-image-long-range-strike-bomber-b-21/) Northrop won an estimated $80 billion contract in October to build 100 new bombers, and Boeing Co. said on Friday it would forgo further protests to the contract. The Air Force has said it will release more information about the warplane in March. The aircraft still faces hurdles in Congress, where questions have been raised about funding the program. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4240055/air-force-bomber-b-21/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4240055/air-force-bomber-b-21/"},"headline":"See the First Image of the Air Force's New Long-Range Bomber","datePublished":"2016-02-27T18:45:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:26:28.865Z","description":"The program has been kept secret","url":"https://time.com/4240055/air-force-bomber-b-21/","keywords":["Military"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffeeb76cbf54f9be/69887f6f8e06014df6464cf7/b-21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffeeb76cbf54f9be/69887f6f8e06014df6464cf7/b-21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An artist rendering shows the first image of a new Northrop Grumman Corp long-range bomber","caption":"An artist rendering shows the first image of a new Northrop Grumman Corp long-range bomber","creditText":"U.S. Air Force/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4240055/air-force-bomber-b-21/","name":"See the First Image of the Air Force's New Long-Range Bomber"}}]}] ```