The US Air Force’s B-2 “Spirit” bomber fleet certainly proved its worth following America’s high-stakes air campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear assets in June. While the B-2 platform has been an effective deterrent since its introduction to service decades ago, the United States is working to field its next-generation successor. When the upcoming B-21 “Raider” reaches its production phase, it will represent an even more lethal threat to American adversaries. However, other nations (namely Russia and China) are simultaneously developing their own sixth-generation counterparts. Moscow’s PAK DA future stealth strategic bomber project, in theory, will host the cutting-edge capabilities planned to be incorporated into the Raider. Until the Russian bomber reaches operational capacity, however, the true extent of its specs and capabilities will remain a mystery.

Russia’s existing bomber fleet recently took a major hit, following Ukraine’s successful Operation Spiderweb UAV........

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