Why The B-21 Raider Costs Less Per Hour To Operate Than The B-2 Spirit It Replaces

The Northrop B-2 Spirit is notoriously expensive to operate and has an exceptionally large number of required maintenance hours per flight hour. The Air Force is set to reduce, although not eliminate, these burdens with the incoming Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider. The B-21 is intended to be a generational upgrade over the B-2, offering increased all-aspect stealth, networking, more advanced stealth coatings, lower maintenance, higher sortie generation, and more.