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A mysterious aircraft was spotted flying over the McConnell Air Force Base, in Kansas, with observers speculating that it could have been a rare sighting of America’s pricy, top-secret stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider.
The video, taken near the Wichita airbase on Tuesday, showed a large gray plane with a silhouette similar to a stealth bomber flying in the sky.
While the aircraft has yet to be identified, many believe it’s proximity to the Air Force base suggest it could have been a test for the rarely seen B-21 Raider.
The high-tech new aircraft is a “nuclear-capable, penetrating strike stealth bomber,” and has an average per-unit price of $692 million, according to the Air Force.
“It appears most likely to be America’s new stealth bomber – the B-21 Raider,” wrote OutKick reporter David Hookstead, claiming there was a reflection coming off a window that matches what’s known about the aircraft.
“In theory, it could also be the RQ-170 drone or the RQ-180 drone, which the government has never acknowledged the existence of,” he added.
Others claimed the shape of the aircraft that was sighted more closely matches the nearly 30-year-old B-2 bomber, which sometimes refuel at McConnel Air Force Base.
The B-21 Raider stands as America’s first new long-range bomber since the B-2, with its flight tests previously reported at the Edward Air Force base in California.
The contract to build the plane was given by Northrop Grumman in 2015. Named after the famous “Doolittle Raiders” that first attacked Japan in World War II, it is the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft and was unveiled to the public in 2022.
US officials have kept the majority of details about the B-21 classified, including the schedule for when it will be operational. Rarely seen in actual flight, the Air Force has said it expects the stealth bomber to enter service within the next decade.
The Air Force has signaled that it hopes to buy at least 100 B-21s to operate alongside its existing fleet of 76 modernized B-52 Stratofortress aircraft.
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