Northrop Grumman to Unveil the B-21 Raider

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), in partnership with the U.S. Air Force, will unveil the B-21 Raider during the first week of December at the company’s Palmdale, California facility. … Six B-21 test aircraft are in various stages of final assembly in Palmdale, California. Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force confirmed in May that the B-21 first flight is projected for 2023. 

I expect this to be the last US strategic bomber to be unveiled in my lifetime. The last one, the B-2, was unveiled in 1988, some 34 years ago. The bomber before that, the B-1A, was shown in 1974, or  14 years before the B-2. The bomber before *that* was the B-70 in 1964, or ten years before the B-1. The B-58 was rolled out in 1965; the B-52 in 1951. The trend line indicates that years between bombers became decades between bombers have become generations; whatever follows the B-21  probably won’t arrive until… what? 2070?