Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Newt Gingrich on the billion dollar theft in Minneapolis.

- From the archives: The Purpose of Technology.

- Netflix to acquire Warner Brothers.

- Air Force hints at AI shift for B-21 Raider.

The B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber

This is the B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber. Northrup Grumman and the US Air Force recently "unveiled" the new B-21. Here's my key take-aways from the article.

• The main role of the B-21 will be to provide strike capabilities that can penetrate through enemy air defenses at range
• Noticeably smaller than the B-2 which would make sense for stealth and range purposes
• The aircraft is intended for both day and night based missions
• The Raider is touted as being a "'multi-functional' aircraft with significant intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and battle management capabilities"
• The first flight of the B-21 is not expected until sometime next year
• The current estimated cost for each B-21 "should be no more than $692 million in Fiscal Year 2022 dollars"
• The Air Force would like 145 total B-21's

 My one fear about the new stealth bomber is not about how undetectable it can be against ground radar but how detectable it might be from space.

B-21 Raider Will Be Rolled Out In Early December

Very cool. The sixth-generation stealth bomber - the B-21 will be rolled out in early December.  

The key words there being "rolled out" since the images of the B-21 have already been made public (the above image was via a simple Google image search) and the B-21 is not scheduled to have its actual first flight until some time next year.

There are only six B-21's in production and the actual pricetag for the bomber is unknown but still - very cool.

HT Instapundit