Also, I do feel discouraged that people on this forum are taking pot shot at B-21, because it doesn't look to be evolutionary over B-2. Let's just think about the challenge it brings:
1) It's an order of magnitude or 2 more stealthy than B-2, so detecting it would be significantly harder than detecting F-22. Whereas China can probably reliably detect F-22 anywhere within the first island chain, you just can't do that with B-21.
2) It's supposed to be cheaper (in 2022 dollars) to produce and maintain than B-2, so USAF can actually get a non trivial number of these things
3) It should have higher availability than B-2. So whereas B-2 was not something that China really had to concern itself with, B-21 is something they have to plan out for many decades. Quantity really matters when you are dealing with strategic bombers.
4) It probably has 5000 to 6000 km combat radius if we use B-2 as a guideline. Just think about that. It can take out from Hawaii and possibly even Seattle and get close enough to China to launch a barrage of VLO LACMs. That is really hard to defend. Now, you have to take out air bases in Australia and Alaska so that B-21 can't fly within like 100 km of your border and drop cheap gliding PGMs against high value targets inside China.
Whereas before, we are mostly worried about B-52s carrying ARRWs or LRASM to attack Chinese fleet and such. Because B-2 and B-1B just aren't available in a large enough quantity to really matter all that much. Now, you have to deal with something that's almost invisible and can operate from further away.
1) It's an order of magnitude or 2 more stealthy than B-2, so detecting it would be significantly harder than detecting F-22. Whereas China can probably reliably detect F-22 anywhere within the first island chain, you just can't do that with B-21.
2) It's supposed to be cheaper (in 2022 dollars) to produce and maintain than B-2, so USAF can actually get a non trivial number of these things
3) It should have higher availability than B-2. So whereas B-2 was not something that China really had to concern itself with, B-21 is something they have to plan out for many decades. Quantity really matters when you are dealing with strategic bombers.
4) It probably has 5000 to 6000 km combat radius if we use B-2 as a guideline. Just think about that. It can take out from Hawaii and possibly even Seattle and get close enough to China to launch a barrage of VLO LACMs. That is really hard to defend. Now, you have to take out air bases in Australia and Alaska so that B-21 can't fly within like 100 km of your border and drop cheap gliding PGMs against high value targets inside China.
Whereas before, we are mostly worried about B-52s carrying ARRWs or LRASM to attack Chinese fleet and such. Because B-2 and B-1B just aren't available in a large enough quantity to really matter all that much. Now, you have to deal with something that's almost invisible and can operate from further away.
