The United States Air Force studies providing its bombers with capabilities to combat enemy aircraft, with the B-21 Raider as one of the main candidates. This possibility appears in a report on the composition of its long-term fighter fleetpresented to Congress and obtained by Aviation Week.
‘Consequently, the USAF is also Evaluating additional options to renew your fleetamong them a new fighter that allows an increase in the number of devices, greater dependence on CCA (collaborative combat aircraft) and the development of air-to-air capabilities in bombers‘, says the document.
The proposal complements the objective of having 1,509 fighters assigned to combat units to 2035several hundred more than there are currently, through the acquisition of F-35A, F-15EX and F-47. Bombers and CCAs would bring additional capabilities to that force.
For years, specialized media such as The War Zone have been pointing out the B-21, the new American bomber in the testing phase, as a particularly suitable candidate due to its long autonomy, high flight ceiling, advanced sensors and a stealthy design which makes it difficult to detect by radars that use different frequencies. Its size and load capacity would also allow it to transport large missiles or numerous smaller projectiles.
The possibility was already raised in 2024, when they asked the then head of the Air Force General Staffthe general David Allvinwhether the B-21 could take on a larger role as a result of the review of the next generation air dominance, or NGAD, program. ‘We have not ruled out that possibility’he responded.
One of the options described by TWZ is to use both the B-21 and the B-52 as flying arsenalscapable of firing long-range missiles from the rear, in coordination with fighters and drones in a more advanced position. These could provide the data necessary to attack targets that the bomber could not detect by its means.
The development of new very long-range air-to-air missiles could allow bombers to attack enemy aircraft hundreds of kilometers away. These weapons include the AIM-174Ban aerial version of the SM-6 that the Navy American has already deployed, and the AIM-424 Malicecurrently in flight testing, although The integration of either of the two into bombers has not yet been announced.
For its part, the Air Force requested proposals in June for an anti-aircraft missile with a maximum range of at least 1,852 kilometers and has explored multi-stage modular designs. The size of these weapons could make it difficult or impossible to transport them on fighters, giving the bombers an advantage..
Another option would be for these aircraft They will launch armed drones to attack enemy aircraftas proposed by the program LongShot of DARPAthe US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. After separating from the bomber, the drone would approach the target and fire its own air-to-air missilesexpanding the range of the attack and allowing the manned aircraft to remain further away from the threat.
The B-21 could also take advantage of its stealthy design to enter defended airspace and coordinate combat drones, which in turn would transmit information about targets. For now, the report confirms that these new functions are being studied, but without specifying which bombers will receive the capabilities or what weapons they will use.