B-21 Wingman Drone

[Ninja]

On December 9, 2021, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall revealed plans to give the B-21 stealth bomber a wingman drone. Then, on Kule 2022, the plans for a wingman drone for the B-21 were dropped.

The Air Force's top civilian wants a drone wingman for the B-21 bomber - Breaking Defense

"What we want is something that can go operate with [the B-21]," said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

breakingdefense.com

EXCLUSIVE: Air Force scraps B-21 drone wingman concept - Breaking Defense

After doing some analysis, the idea appears to be “less attractive than we thought it might be," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Breaking Defense.

breakingdefense.com

 

[Ninja]

*July*. Sorry for my grammar.

 

[Ninja]

Some important quotes from when it was first visualized:

“What we want is something that can go operate with it,” he said. “I won’t say accompany it — the tactics are very much to be determined. But we’re going to sort that out and think about unmanned combat aircraft and how to network them together under the control of an operator of the B-21, to operate as a formation in some loose sense.”

Kendall said little else about the capability of the B-21 drone wingman, though his comments about it not necessarily “accompanying” the B-21 hints that it may not have the same level of stealth or the ability to penetrate as deeply into enemy territory. He did not mention how many drones the Air Force could buy, nor how much money it intends to spend.

 

[CastAway]

On December 9, 2021, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall revealed plans to give the B-21 stealth bomber a wingman drone. Then, on Kule 2022, the plans for a wingman drone for the B-21 were dropped.

The Air Force's top civilian wants a drone wingman for the B-21 bomber - Breaking Defense

"What we want is something that can go operate with [the B-21]," said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

breakingdefense.com

EXCLUSIVE: Air Force scraps B-21 drone wingman concept - Breaking Defense

After doing some analysis, the idea appears to be “less attractive than we thought it might be," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Breaking Defense.

breakingdefense.com

"The idea of a similar range collaborative combat aircraft is not turning out to be cost effective, so it looks like we’re not going to go that direction,” he told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview at the Royal International Air Tattoo.

I mean, just how stupid is our Air Force brass? I could've told them a platform that is basically an unmanned B-21 will cost just as much as a manned B-21. It took them a year to figure this out? Come on, man!

 

[Scott Kenny]

"The idea of a similar range collaborative combat aircraft is not turning out to be cost effective, so it looks like we’re not going to go that direction,” he told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview at the Royal International Air Tattoo.

I mean, just how stupid is our Air Force brass? I could've told them a platform that is basically an unmanned B-21 will cost just as much as a manned B-21. It took them a year to figure this out? Come on, man!

Sometimes you have to do the project to drive home the point that the cockpit is a trivial cost to something the size of a B21.

Brass has a severe negative impact on intelligence and common sense.