A Stealth Bomber Addition to AUKUS: B-21 Acquisitions Again Discussed in Australia

The Australian Institute for Public Affairs research institute has recommended that the Royal Australian Air Force acquire B-21 Raider next generation stealth bombers from the United States, with the intercontinental range strategic aircraft seen as a valuable complement to the country’s nuclear attack submarines currently on order. The institute referred to the B-21 as “an additional element” which could be added to the AUKUS trilateral defence and security. “The benefit of ‘Plan B-21’ is that it will deliver significant long range strike capability to the ADF sooner than nuclear powered submarines,” the report added, concluding: “we judge that a capacity to operate and maintain the platform [B-21] in the Indo-Pacific would add a powerful deterrent option, earlier, to the U.S. and to Australia.” The possibility of Australia acquiring B-21 bombers has been raised since the late 2010s, while the possibility of the country entering a <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/04/what-nuclear-weapons-sharing-trends-mean-for-east-asia/" target="_blank">nuclear sharing agreement</a> with the United States to be able to use American nuclear warheads in wartime has been raised increasingly since 2021.&nbsp;Nuclear sharing would allow each B-21 to drop 12 B61-12 precision guided nuclear bombs on separate targets across a targeted state, with the bombs having variable yields of between 300 tons and 50,000 tons allowing them to strike small targets such as fortifications, or larger ones <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-bomb-one-fighter-310000-russians" target="_blank">such as major cities</a>.<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2024/09/02/article_66d517080e03c0_86576539.jpeg" title="B-21 Bomber on Maiden Flight" >Much like the AUKUS nuclear submarine program, a B-21 acquisition has been advocated as a means of projection power into Northeast Asia to provide Australia with options to launch attacks on Chinese and North Korean targets in support of a broader Western Bloc war effort. Australia was previously the only client for the American F-111 long range strike fighter, which proved highly successful in intimidating neighbouring Indonesia with its advanced precision strike capabilities during conflict over East Timor. This helped Canberra to gain highly <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/review-shameful-lust-riches-under-timor-sea">favourable access </a>to disputed fossil fuel deposits in the area. A B-21 purchase could be an effective successor to the F-111 acquisition, and be used to similar ends but across a much wider area. Australia’s current fleet of F-35s and F-18s notably lack a comparable range to the F-111.The Institute for Public Affairs&nbsp;notably further advocated that Australia offer “to host a U.S. B-21 contingent” in order to “strengthen deterrence in the 2020s and manage the risk of delays in the AUKUS submarine.” This appears increasingly likely to materialise as the country has served as an increasingly <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/australian-base-permanently-host-b52" target="_blank">important staging ground</a> for American bomber operations, which helps mitigate the growing <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/precaution-against-chinese-and-korean-missiles-u-s-building-major-secondary-airbase-in-east-asia-in-case-guam-neutralised" target="_blank">vulnerability</a> of facilities on Guam. The B-21 was initially scheduled to make its first flight in 2020, although years of delays raised the possibility that the aircraft could begin flying after its&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/world-s-first-21st-century-bomber-to-fly-china-s-h-20-and-america-s-b-21-in-a-neck-to-neck-race" >Chinese rival the H-20&nbsp;</a>had already started flight testing. The bomber <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/b21-first-bomber-34yrs-first-flight" target="_blank">made its first flight</a> on November 10, 2023, making it the world’s first clean sheet new bomber design to do so since the B-2 Spirit made first flew on July 17, 1989. Compared to the B-2, the B-21 is considerably stealthier, but has a significantly smaller shorter ranged airframe intended to be much cheaper to produce and operate.&nbsp;