It tears through the skies at staggering speeds, completing a flight around the earth in less than two days at a grueling 600 miles per hour. Sporting a sexy skin-tight coating of rubber that would make Batman jealous, this metal falcon is virtually undetectable by enemy radar. Loaded with all of this sleek technology, was difficult to imagine anything more powerful than the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.



Until now.

Meet the Next Generation Bomber. Boeing has teamed up with Lockheed for the ultimate tech showdown against their competitors, Northrop Grumman. With a shape much like the X-47B Navy attack drone, Northrop's prototype will pack much more of a punch than its stealthy predecessor. The company plans on stocking their next-gen models with a whopping 28,000 pounds of weaponry.

Boeing has been presenting ideas for their competing hypersonic speed demon with pilot-less potential. An unmanned aircraft of this caliber would be above and beyond the capabilities of current technology. Based on Boeing developmental concept designs submitted thus far, these Next Generation Bombers will have a radar signature of less than 1/5h of a fruit fly.



The financial results Northrop released last April show that there was a $2 Billion budget increase for “restricted programs” in their aircraft division, but the money was nowhere to be found on the recent Airforce budget reports. Rumors abound that the undisclosed billions will fund a black ops program to carry nuclear weapons on board the new Next Generation Bomber, projected to be in production in 2018.

Will these Next Generation Bombers be simply the most advanced in aviation technology, or a top secret project to carry 14 tons of nuclear power in the fastest, most stealthy machine ever created? Either way, we will have to wait 8 years to find out.



Photos courtesy of the Air Force and Northrop Grumman