The ceremony started with a flyover of the three bombers still in service: the 70-year-old B-52 Stratofortress, the 49-year-old B-1 Lancer and the 33-year-old B-2 Spirit, a strategic plane of which only 20 were ever built.
Six Raiders are in production, and it was was shown to the public because it will soon start ground testing in open view. The first flight is planned for for next year.
But some warned that estimates of cost depend on how many the Pentagon purchases and if testing runs smoothly.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon began allowing Northrop Grumman employees to acknowledge to their families and friends that they worked on the B-21. Northrop Grumman said 400 suppliers are involved in the project and the plane had been designed with existing parts and technology.
