The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has finally unveiled its FY2026 budget request, and the next-generation B-21 Raider stealth bomber, scheduled to replace the B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit strategic bombers in the U.S. Air Force (USAF), has secured more than $4 billion in funding.
A group of senior Defense Department and military leaders unveiled President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.01 trillion national defense budget request for fiscal year 2026 on June 26 during a media briefing in the Pentagon.
The request includes $848.3 billion for the discretionary budget, along with the $113 billion expected from the Reconciliation bill that is currently pending in the Senate.
“This historic defense budget prioritizes strengthening homeland security, deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base, and maintaining our commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” a senior defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The proposed budget is divided as follows: $197.4 billion for the Army, $292.2 billion for the Navy, $301.1 billion for the Air Force, and $170.9 billion defense-wide. Additionally, approximately $40 billion in the Air Force budget is allocated to the Space Force, representing a 30% increase in funding from fiscal year 2025.
Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the budget request include the Golden Dome, with an initial investment allocation of $25 billion, the F-15EX, which has received $3.1 billion for continued jet production, and the F-47 sixth-generation fighter, which has received funding of $3.5 billion, among others.
Notably, approximately $60 billion is allocated toward nuclear enterprise modernization, encompassing all three legs of the nation’s nuclear triad. This includes, in particular, the lethal LGM-35A Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and the next-generation B-21 Raider bomber.
A U.S. defense official claimed that approximately $4.74 billion has been allocated to the B-21 development program—$2.3 billion from the base budget and $2.4 billion from the reconciliation bill —to “speed up production” of the aircraft. The official said that the entire amount requested for the B-21, including production, was $10.3 billion.
The allocation is significant as it comes months after the B-21 manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, reported in April 2025 that it had taken a $477 million loss on the B-21 bomber program in the first quarter. The manufacturer said that the loss was due to “a change in manufacturing process,” adding that the change would enable higher production.
The accelerated production of the B-21, projected to be the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft, is significant in the wake of a burgeoning threat to Washington from China’s expanding military capabilities. Beijing is also currently working on a next-generation long-range strike stealth bomber, known as the ‘H-20.’
Moreover, the funding allocation for the B-21 comes as the world has come to appreciate the unmatched capabilities of strategic stealth bombers. The budget request was unveiled days after the U.S. Air Force conducted air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities using its cutting-edge B-2 Spirit bomber. The strikes reinforced the dominance of long-range strike bombers, with analysts in Beijing taking notice.
Designed for covert nuclear and conventional strikes, the B-2 Spirit is one of the three strategic bombers used by the USAF. Although the aircraft was initially developed for the Soviet air defense network and a potential nuclear attack, its mission has since expanded to encompass conventional precision strikes. The bomber had also been deployed in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo at the height of military operations in those combat zones.
The B-21 next-generation stealth bomber will eventually replace these legacy US bombers.
The Raider conducted its maiden flight from Northrop Grumman’s facilities at the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, and is currently in Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP), which involves building a small number of aircraft to test the production process and refine it before full-rate production begins.
How Is The B-21 Raider Better Than B-2 Spirit?
Although both the B-2 Spirit and the B-21 Raider are stealth bombers manufactured by Northrop Grumman, the B-21 features some major improvements over the B-2 Spirit.
Currently, there is limited public information available about the B-21 Raider. However, the B-21 is believed to incorporate more sophisticated stealth technology, such as a smoother radar-absorbent coating and thinner, recessed air intakes that reduce the radar cross-section.
When the USAF first released photos of the B-21 in May 2024, experts pointed out that, unlike the B-2, which featured a boxy, sugar-scoop exhaust, the B-21 exhibits a narrow, 2-D exhaust embedded in the jet’s tail.
At the time, Alex Holling, a former US Marine and an editor with Sandboxx News, drew attention to the air intakes. Posting a photo of both the bombers in the same frame, he wrote on Platform X: “Side profile comparison of the B-21 and B-2. Those air inlets are so recessed, you can’t even see them!”
According to previous observations made by experts, the 2-D exhaust system of the B-21 appears to reduce infrared fingerprints, and its design prioritizes ultra-low observability against modern, state-of-the-art air defenses.
The sixth-generation open systems architecture employed by the B-21 facilitates the integration of new technologies and software upgrades. It utilizes cutting-edge digital engineering, which reduces design-to-production changes from 15–20% to approximately 1%.
The USAF states, “The B-21 is being designed with open systems architecture to reduce integration risk and enable competition for future modernization efforts to allow for the aircraft to evolve as the threat environment changes.”
In contrast, the B-2 uses technology from the 1980s, and less adaptable systems need expensive hardware upgrades. It has higher maintenance demands due to its sensitive radar-absorbent materials.
While B-2 has the reputation of being the most maintenance-intensive and costly combat platform in the USAF inventory, the B-21 has been designed to be lower maintenance, with tougher radar-absorbent coatings that don’t require climate-controlled hangars. Once they enter operation, this feature will increase sortie rates and reduce operational costs, providing a much-needed respite for the USAF.
As a next-generation aircraft, the B-21 features more advanced avionics and sensors, as well as significantly improved radar arrays for targeting.
Moreover, the Raider is designed to penetrate impenetrable airspace, which sets it apart from the older bombers in the USAF fleet, according to its manufacturer. Northrop Grumman says: “As adversaries continue to invest in and develop advanced weapons, the B-21 Raider will provide the United States with a strategic asset capable of penetrating enemy air defenses and reaching targets anywhere in the world — something approximately 90 percent of the nation’s current bomber fleet is incapable of doing.”
Although the B-2 Spirit and the B-21 Raider appear to be of the same family by appearance, the two strategic bombers are very different in size. The B-21 is expected to be a huge aircraft, but still somewhat smaller than the iconic bomber that it is meant to replace. As previously noted by EurAsian Times, it has a wingspan of approximately 140 feet, which is significantly smaller than the B-2’s 172-foot wingspan.
The B-21 is also expected to have a smaller payload capacity, approximately 9,100 kilograms, compared to the B-2’s 18,000 kilograms. It must, however, be remembered that several of these specifications of the B-21 are mere estimates.
From what we know, the B-21 will be a nuclear-capable bomber equipped with virtually all modern precision-guided munitions. It can reach any corner of the globe with mid-air refueling. That’s exactly what a bomber is supposed to do.
Starting with a low-rate production phase of 21 units, the Air Force has committed to building at least 100 Raiders to replace aging B-1B Lancers and B-2 Spirits, supported by upgraded B-52J Stratofortresses.
The USAF had earlier indicated that it had learned from its past mistake of keeping the bomber fleet too small, which made it too expensive. The B-2 was planned to be a fleet of 132 aircraft. However, the US Congress terminated the program after only 21 had been built, resulting in the cost per aircraft climbing to nearly US$2 billion.
The Air Force’s publicly stated goal is to operationalize B-21s before 2030, with Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota slated to be the first base to host combat-coded Raider squadrons. Following that, the additional B-21 squadrons will be based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the current home of the B-2 Spirit bomber fleet, and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.
For the US, the development and induction of B-21 stealth bombers is great news, as no other country in the world, including Russia and China, has a sixth-generation stealth bomber yet.
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