Aviation Week reported on a memo from the AFGSC chief recommending a change from current plans for two pilots in the B-21 Raider to a combination of pilot and weapons systems officer (WSO).
““Unleashing the full potential of the Raider requires a complex combination of skills: aerial prowess, weapons management, electromagnetic spectrum operations, sensor management, real-time battle management and agile combat replanning. For this reason, the B-21 will be manned by a pilot and a weapons systems officer,” reads the memo from General Thomas Bussiere, then commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), as seen by Aviation Week.
Although it has not yet been formally accepted as official policy by the broader US Air Force administration, the recommendation is a reversal of previous plans for the two-seat B-21 Raider to be flown by two pilots, like the B-2 Spirit. In 2020, plans to allow current WSOs from current B-52 Stratofortress and B-1B Lancer units retrain as pilots before the arrival of the B-21; it is unclear whether this developed beyond the proposal stage and whether any OSM underwent such role conversion training.
B-21 News: Solo pilot and OSM? https://t.co/WnkEd5v0KL
-Brian Everstine (@beverstine) November 3, 2025
Both the Stratofortress and Lancer are typically assigned a pair of WSOs along with a complement of two pilots for each sortie; For the B-52, a fifth seat is used by an electronic warfare officer (EWO), and a sixth ejection seat can accommodate an additional crew member. In such cases, the need for OSMs to be trained in at least basic piloting tasks is limited, since if one pilot becomes incapacitated the other can continue flying normally. However, for the B-21, WSOs will almost certainly be required to pilot the aircraft during at least some stages of the flight.
On the B-2, it is well known that the aircraft can fly alone for periods of time, allowing the two pilots to work in shifts during extended sorties and make use of a small “rest area” behind the cockpit seats, where there is enough room to a chemical toilet and a folding bed.
Surely the Air Force will want to maintain this practice; Without it, long-range missions with such a limited crew would be effectively impossible. Longest continuous sortie by a B-2 crew confirmed more than 44 hours of flightwhile B-2 flights during Operation Midnight Hammer earlier this year lasted around 37 hours.
Getting closer to the service
The B-21 Raider has conducted regular test sorties for almost two years. In September 2025, the second airworthy test aircraft, named T-2, took off for the first time. Two more fuselages are known to have been completed and are dedicated to ground testing.
Here are photos of the second B-21 Raider test aircraft taking off from Palmdale, California, to join the Air Force flight test campaign in @EdwardsAFBtoday. #B21assaulter #AirPower @usaairforce Yo @DeptofWar https://t.co/86CjZwPcuD pic.twitter.com/mVO0lJE0KH
— Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (@SecAFOfficial) September 11, 2025
Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, is expected to receive its first B-21s in the mid-2020s. Whiteman AFB, home of the B-2 Spirit, and Dyess AFB are the other two bases intended to host the B-21 Raiders. Minot AFB and Barksdale AFB will likely continue to operate the B-52 Stratofortress for many years as the aircraft prepares for a major upgrade program that will see redesignated aircraft designated the B-52J. This upgrade will help the venerable aircraft serve until 2050, while the B-1 and B-2 will be retired in favor of the B-21.
Smaller than the B-2, the B-21 is expected to offset a reduced payload with a much larger fleet size that, under current plans, will see more B-21s produced than active B-1s and B-2s combined. More than 100 B-21s are expected to be supplemented during operations by collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), which could increase the weapons capacity, range and sensor capabilities, and survivability of an assembled strike package.
Notably, each B-21 will only be able to carry one of the famous GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bombs per aircraft, compared to two per B-2. In theory, this would mean twice as many bombers would be needed to mount a reenactment of Operation Midnight Hammer, although the replacement weapon, called the Next Generation Penetrator (NGP) – is planned to be significantly lighter than the MOP and could therefore be sized to allow multiple bombs to be carried.
Unlike many ongoing procurement processes with militaries around the world, the B-21 Raider program is not only proceeding apace but frequently falling short of its expected budget. US Air Force The development of new variants of the bomber design is not ruled out. focused on other missions, including even air-to-air combat. A B-21, operating in conjunction with manned and unmanned aircraft, could carry a large number of air-to-air missiles into combat without being detected by radar. With modern data links and advanced missile designs, air-to-air weapons aboard a B-21 could be signaled and directed by sensor systems on fighter jets.
