At the end of February the US Air Force revealed a concept drawing of its proposed Long Range Strike Bomber. The new bomber looks strikingly like the Air Force’s old bomber:

The as-yet unnamed bomber has been designated the B-21. (The similarity in appearance to the B-2 already has some re-designating it the “B-2.1”.) While that number would seem to be in the middle of those used during World War II, it doesn’t appear a B-21 was ever fielded between the B-17 Flying Fortress or B-24 Liberator.

The cost for the programs is naturally in the billions, with individual airframes estimated by some at $500 million.

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James indicated the bomber’s name will be chosen from suggestions from Airmen. More than 100 comments have already hit the normally-quiet AF.mil page. The Air Force Facebook announcements have similarly spiked traffic, with more than 1,100 comments on posts that normally sees about 50.

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