The Air Force said last week it has added operational test pilots to B-21 Raider flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. A recent flight placed a pilot from Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 5 in the aircraft alongside a developmental test pilot as the program moves into work involving mission systems and weapons integration.
“We put an operational test member in the pilot seat with an Air Force Test Pilot School graduate in the other,” Col. Matt Guasco, AFOTEC Det. 5 commander, said. “In the history of modern test, we’ve never done that so early in a program.”
The Air Force said the approach is intended to bring operational and developmental test work together earlier in the process, allowing evaluators to examine how the bomber performs for mission use while flight testing continues.
“There are three programs the future of our nation depends upon: Sentinel, B-21 and F-47,” Gen. Dale White, the Pentagon’s direct reporting portfolio manager for critical major weapon systems, said during a June 8 all-call with the Raider Combined Test Force. “These are the capabilities our nation will turn to in its darkest hour.”
The Raider Combined Test Force includes personnel from the 412th Test Wing’s 420th Flight Test Squadron, AFOTEC Det. 5, the 53rd Wing’s 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron and Northrop Grumman. The Air Force said the B-21 is planned to operate alongside the B-52 Stratofortress as part of the service’s future bomber force.
