A highly anticipated nuclear-capable stealth bomber took to the skies for the first-time last Friday.
B-21 RAIDER FIRST FLIGHT 11-10-23 #RAIDER33 #B21Raider pic.twitter.com/3tEKudqDiw
— Matt Hartman (@ShorealoneFilms) November 10, 2023
Ellsworth Airforce Base in Box Elder will be home for the B-21.
In a tweet, Gov. Kristi Noem lauded the flight.
"You’ll be seeing a lot more of this in Box Elder, South Dakota," Noem tweeted on Monday. "The beautiful B-21 Raider will soon call Ellsworth Air Force Base home… and we can’t wait!"
Northrop Grumman was awarded the contract to build the plane. Each is expected to cost about $692 million dollars.
The bomber was first unveiled last December. It’s expected to reach western South Dakota by the mid-2020’s.
Ellsworth’s focus is on near-peer adversaries like China and Russia.
US Senator Mike Rounds has called the bomber a “China deterrence weapon.”
