Pentagon debuts new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider

America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber made its debut on Friday. The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is classified. As evening fell over the US Air Force's Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, the public had its first glimpse of the Raider in a tightly controlled ceremony.

It started with a flyover of the three bombers still in service. Then the hangar doors slowly opened and the B-21 was towed partially out of the building. The B-21 is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize all three legs of its nuclear triad. The aircraft were projected to cost about 550 million USD each in 2010 dollars, or about 750 million USD in today's inflation-adjusted dollars.