B-21 Raider Test Relied on 780 Pilots as Air Force Scaled Workforce
The U.S. Air Force’s choice this week to assign two pilots to every B-21 Raider is giving Northrop Grumman more than a production job. The issue now: whether the Air Force can staff crews as fast as Northrop Grumman can roll out bombers. By the end of 2025, the Air Force had 497 bomber pilots for 141 planes, or about 3.52 pilots per bomber. If the fleet grows to 145 B-21s and 76 B-52s, it’ll need around 779 bomber pilots—a jump of 57% from the pool at the end of 2025.
