Flying Wing Arsenal Plane Packed With Air-To-Air Missiles Eyed By USAF: Report

The U.S. Air Force is reportedly inspecting the likelihood of fielding stealthy flying-wing plane that may serve as ‘arsenal planes’ loaded with air-to-air missiles. The broader idea is one that we have now mentioned in the past, including in relation to a model of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber. According to an article from Air & Space Forces Magazine, the Air Force is also contemplating other potential flying-wing platforms to fill this air-to-air function.

A senior Air Force official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that this sort of arsenal aircraft was being studied as half of the Air Force’s plans for how to deal with a high-intensity battle fought with China in the Indo-Pacific area. The stealthy flying-wing plane could be armed with “dozens” of air-to-air missiles, the article states.

According to a former top Air Force official talking to Air & Space Forces Magazine, “there wasn’t a compelling argument” for an air-to-air model of the B-21 in the past, even though it had been mentioned. But the prospect of an air conflict with China and its quickly evolving air fight capabilities appears to have modified that stance.

Currently, the research is still at an early stage, but it’s intriguing, to say the least, that the Air Force is trying at the likelihood of participating other producers and using different platforms than the B-21, which is now deep in flight take a look at.

The same official told the publication that an arsenal aircraft of this sort could be a technique of offering a supplement to or even taking the place of some of the Air Force’s new Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones it intends to press into service in the approaching years. “There are other ways of achieving ‘affordable mass’ than darkening the skies with CCAs,” the official said.

The basic operational state of affairs would contain the arsenal aircraft offering extra air-to-air ‘magazine depth’ for crewed fighters, such as the F-22, F-35, and the future F-47. The fighters could be accountable for detecting and designating targets, which might then be engaged by long-range missiles launched from the arsenal aircraft, working at a standoff distance, a idea that we have now been discussing for years. CCAs may also be added to the combination. It’s price noting that a lack of bigger numbers of air-to-air missiles in their jets is a top grievance of F-35 and F-22 crews. Smaller missiles optimized for inner carriage and with shorter ranges are in the works to help mitigate this issue.

There is no point out of whether or not the arsenal aircraft could be crewed or not, but the thought of an uncrewed or optionally crewed model of the B-21 has been half of that program from the outset. Furthermore, work has already been completed on a potential complementary drone for the B-21, as you’ll be able to read about right here. While this was initially pitched as a bomber drone, such a design may equally lend itself to changing into an air-to-air arsenal aircraft.

It’s fascinating, too, that the thought of an air-to-air function for the B-21 has come up in the past.

Back in 2019, Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Pleus, at that time the Director of Air and Cyber Operations for Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), mentioned the likelihood of a B-21 “that also has air-to-air capabilities” and can “work with the family of systems to defend itself, utilizing stealth…”

Even before those remarks, TWZ had explored how the new stealth bomber may serve in a number of roles, including in an air-to-air capability, while Air Force officers had repeatedly alluded to its multi-function capabilities.

“Many of the B-21’s weapons, which will include everything from JDAMs, to Massive Ordnance Penetrators, to ultra long-range air-to-air missiles, will benefit from the Raider’s high perch,” TWZ wrote as long in the past as 2017. “Even potentially lasers in the future will have more range due to this performance attribute.”

In December of last 12 months, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin confirmed the service had not ruled out increasing the roles and missions of the B-21 as half of a reassessment of plans for its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative, which led to the F-47.

The latest Air Force considering also consists of the option of utilizing an airframe other than the B-21 to obtain the same air-to-air activity. This is outwardly based on issues about Northrop Grumman’s capability to construct the baseline bomber in addition to a potential air-to-air-tasked spinoff. At the same time, a full-specification B-21 model could be a very costly asset, and possible its stage of sophistication wouldn’t be required for an arsenal aircraft function. A stripped-down model, with no sensors and less communications capabilities, as nicely as probably no pilots and barely degraded stealth may drop that price significantly while leveraging the B-21’s basic airframe.

The Air Force’s publicly acknowledged plan has long been to buy at least 100 Raiders. However, as we have now talked about in the past, there’s the potential that the B-21 pressure may finally turn out to be considerably larger. In the meantime, Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) has seemed into the choices for growing B-21 manufacturing output, including the likelihood of opening up another manufacturing facility.

Current estimates recommend that Northrop Grumman shall be building 10 B-21s per 12 months by the early 2030s. Even with funds to increase that output, it’s far from sure that there shall be extra capability for manufacturing of an air-to-air model as nicely.

Clearly, developing a new stealthy flying-wing arsenal aircraft from scratch could be a vital endeavor, although possible less expensive than producing a high-end bomber for arsenal aircraft use. At the same time, a specialised design for the function may draw upon applied sciences developed not only for the B-21 but also for other superior flying-wing packages, including ones in the categorised realm.

While a devoted air-to-air model of the B-21 may not discover AFGSC favor, Raiders armed with air-to-air missiles for their own safety is another matter. This is underscored by evidence that PACOM has already included notional B-21s with air-to-air weapons in conflict video games supposed to study about future campaigns fought against China.

Another option could be to develop (or embrace if it doesn’t have it already) air-to-air functionality in the baseline B-21. Raiders with the option of using air-to-air as nicely as air-to-ground weapons would guarantee versatility, and these plane may even carry blended load-outs if the mission required it. It needs to be famous, too, that the B-21 has a smaller weapons carriage functionality than the current B-2 Spirit and, at least based on images of the second plane, it lacks aspect bays for smaller weapons — this may change as development continues.

On the other hand, the B-21 is a very expensive aircraft, and any weapons capability given over to air-to-air munitions essentially takes away from its main bomber mission, one thing that AFGSC is unlikely to respect. It will also be tasked extraordinarily closely for its central strike function during a major battle. So, if the B-21s have been partially tasked with working as arsenal ships for fighters, more airframes could be needed, which may make taking on this function more agreeable to AFGSC.

In the meantime, there’s apparently no scarcity of long-range air-to-air missile packages that may yield appropriate armament for an arsenal aircraft of this sort.

There are numerous very long-range air-to-air missile packages identified to have been in the works in the United States, with more in the categorised realm. The best identified is the joint Air Force/Navy AIM-260, which is able to offer a lot better vary than the current AIM-120 AMRAAM, as nicely as other new and improved capabilities, but will put these in a missile with related dimensions to the AIM-120. A Raider-sized plane may carry a large quantity of AIM-260s.

At the same time, a platform the dimensions of the B-21, or nearer to its measurement, would also be succesful of carrying outsized weapons past the scope of carriage by CCAs, or even crewed fighters, such as multi-stage air-to-air weapons. As for large, very long-range air-to-air missiles, one option very well-suited to the function could be the AIM-174, the air launched by-product of the surface-launched SM-6 missile. These are at the moment carried by U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets. Longer-ranged than any other air-to-air missile the U.S. army has ever fielded, it’s also tailor-made for the Indo-Pacific theater, as you’ll be able to see in the video below. Firing it at the direction of forward-operating fighters would very a lot match the function of this new flying wing plane, which might have the opportunity to carry far more than fighters may.

Alternatively, instead of shopping for large flying wings each carrying dozens of missiles, the Air Force may purchase uncrewed fight air automobiles, or UCAVs, offering a longer vary and better survivability than CCAs, as nicely as a far better payload. The consequence could be a more survivable drone carrying a fighter-sized load of missiles. The obvious absence of UCAVs of any sort from Air Force plans is one thing we have now mentioned in element before and have since adopted up on.

If this option have been to be pursued, it will go some method to handle the constraints of a bigger flying-wing platform carrying dozens of missiles at once. Simply put, those missiles can only be in one place at any given time. Buying more plentiful UCAVs would imply that they are often in many locations at once, and dropping a drone of this sort could be preferable to the Air Force dropping many thousands and thousands in the price of a more beautiful flying wing platform and its missiles.

For its half, China is busily developing flying-wing drones, including stealthy UCAVs. Some of these drones are also notably large. Indeed, the latest of these could nicely even match this latest U.S. Air Force arsenal aircraft idea, at least by design, although we have no idea its precise deliberate mission or shops configuration. Namely, this is a flying-wing drone with a ‘cranked kite’ planform, a bit smaller than a B-21, but possible with kinetic capabilities. Potentially, it may also be used in an air-to-air fight help function.

Other fascinating parallels could be discovered between the new U.S. Air Force idea and naval packages for ‘arsenal ships.’ These vessels are supposed to equally increase magazine depth, lobbing air protection, land-attack, and anti-ship missiles in help of more typical floor combatants. Some of these arsenal ships are also anticipated to operate uncrewed, while others will go to sea with a much-reduced crew complement.

Should the Air Force discover funds for an air-to-air arsenal aircraft of whatever sort, the impact that would have on the CCA and other initiatives is unclear.

The assertion that an unnamed senior Air Force official gave to Air & Space Forces Magazine suggests that a stealthy flying-wing plane armed with large numbers of air-to-air missiles may, to a degree, threaten CCA plans, although it may also be a very useful complement.

The CCA program, at least to start with, is based around drones that can carry air-to-air missiles, which means these drones can work carefully with crewed plane, considerably extending their attain while enhancing lethality and survivability.

As it stands, the first mission of the first increment of CCAs shall be appearing as flying ‘missile trucks’ supporting crewed fight jets, a fact mirrored by the FQ (Fighter Drone) designations, for the General Atomics YFQ-42A and the Anduril YFQ-44A.

While CCAs could be anticipated to operate a lot nearer to the enemy than an arsenal aircraft, they’d not have the opportunity to carry wherever close to as many missiles — initially, just two AMRAAMs.

There are meanwhile efforts to prolong the attain and flexibility of crewed fighters (and other platforms), including the LongShot drone, which is being developed particularly as an air-to-air ‘missile truck.’ The drone will carry the missiles ahead to improve the tactical lethality and particularly the survivability of the launch platform. While it’s deliberate to be cost-effective, the LongShot will not be reusable, and each one will also carry just two missiles. At the same time, the LongShot may very well be an option to increase the attain of an arsenal aircraft, too.

Indeed, all of these smaller drones may have only a comparatively restricted weapons-carrying capability. In this context, a bigger stealthy flying-wing with capacious inner capability turns into very compelling in phrases of bringing the biggest quantity of air-to-air missiles to bear against a numerically superior adversary, like China. Furthermore, relying on the degree of standoff vary at which the arsenal aircraft may operate, it wouldn’t essentially need the same degree of low observability as the B-21.

Also fascinating is the timing of the new arsenal aircraft revelations, in phrases of the F-47, which was always supposed to be a spearhead of the Air Force’s future air superiority efforts, particularly in the Indo-Pacific area.

While Boeing has began manufacturing of the first F-47 for the Air Force, with a first flight deliberate for 2028, there are questions about the ultimate quantity of plane to be constructed and what they’ll value, as nicely as its general measurement (and capability for weapons carriage).

The Air Force has said it plans to buy at least 185 F-47s, but probably that determine may change going ahead. There has also been dialogue about the potential for a number of variations to be constructed in incremental developmental cycles. Meanwhile, with predictions that the F-47 may cost a little 3 times as a lot as the average F-35, this issue will very possible also play into acquisition plans.

Whatever the quantity of F-47s procured, the Air Force appears to take into account that these, plus a lot bigger portions of F-35s and CCAs, may still not be enough to wrest air superiority from China over the huge distances of the Pacific, particularly in any sort of extended marketing campaign.

While it will come at a vital value, a stealthy flying-wing plane packed with air-to-air missiles may just be a technique of doing that.

Contact the writer: thomas@thewarzone.com