The US Air Force (USAF)’s next-generation stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, will be equipped with sophisticated software that will “offer pilots organised warzone information in real-time”, the National Interest reports.
According to the US magazine’s defence editor Kris Osborn, the new bomber’s equipment will include sensors, computers, and electronics, which will make it possible to “better scale, deploy, and streamline procedural functions such as checking avionics specifics, measuring altitude, and speed”.
He quoted USAF Acquisition Executive William Roper as saying that the USAF’s B-21 team “just ran containerized software with [the computer system] Kubernetes on flight-ready hardware”, bringing “radical autonomy to software development, partnering with [the US global aerospace and defence technology corporation] Northrop Grumman”.
Thanks to this the aircraft computer will quickly run to obtain data related to altitude, speed, and navigation. The B-21’s pilots will be able to share information and destroy enemy air defences “much faster”, Osborn noted in his article entitled "Northrop Grumman's New B-21 Stealth Bomber: A Technological Powerhouse?"
In this context, it is worth mentioning that the B-21's software may prove even more sophisticated as compared to the Autonomic Logistics Information System of America's fifth-generation fighter jet, the F-35 which is already in service but continues to face a space of technological troubles.
The B-21 will replace the USAF’s aging B-2 Spirit, which was unveiled in 1989 and entered service in 1997. The Raider sports the same “flying wing” design as its predecessor, a shape that, along with a high-tech anti-radar coating, gives the plane a very low radar profile.
Last year, US Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson revealed that the new stealth bomber expected to take to the skies for the first time in December 2021 for a flight test.