The United States Air Force released images this week of its new state-of-the-art stealth bomber that is set to enter service in the near future.

The U.S. Military unveiled the new strategic long-rage stealth bomber, Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider, at a special ceremony in Palmdale, California.

The B-21 will replace the Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and the B-1 Lancer bomber, both of which have been around for three decades.

The B-21 looks very similar to the B-2, but is smaller and significantly more sophisticated as it has more advanced stealth technology and has more capabilities in the realm of electronic and cyber warfare. Only 21 B-2 bombers were ever built, a number that will be dwarfed by the more than 100 B-21s that the U.S. Military is requesting.

“The B21 Raider continues to conduct flight tests at Edwards with the B-21 Combined Test Force, including ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations,” Edwards Air Force Base said in a post on X that included new photos of the bomber. “The Raider continues to make progress toward becoming the backbone of the USAF bomber fleet.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP

The #B21 Raider continues to conduct flight tests at Edwards with the B-21 Combined Test Force, including ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations. The Raider continues to make progress toward becoming the backbone of the #USAF bomber fleet. #AFMC @usairforce pic.twitter.com/u03HsnTKwd

— Edwards Air Force Base (@EdwardsAFB) May 22, 2024

“The B-21 Raider is the first strategic bomber in more than three decades,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin said last year. “It is a testament to America’s enduring advantages in ingenuity and innovation. And it’s proof of the Department’s long-term commitment to building advanced capabilities that will fortify America’s ability to deter aggression, today and into the future.”

The B-21 Raider was named in honor of the Doolittle Raid of World War II, which happened on April 18, 1942. The raid was led by Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, who volunteered to lead America’s first military response to Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Sixteen B-25 medium bombers took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet in a one-way bombing raid that targeted Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya, the U.S. Air Force says. “As did the others who participated in the mission, Doolittle had to bail out, but fortunately landed in a rice paddy in China near Chu Chow. Some of the other flyers lost their lives on the mission.”

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI announced this week that it raised $6 billion in its latest round of fundraising as the new company looks to gain ground on OpenAI.

The company, which was created in July 2023, announced in a blog post: “Our Series B funding round of $6 billion with participation from key investors including Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding, amongst others.”

In less than a year, the company already rolled out its own AI chatbot, Grok, to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Grok, which is only available on Musk’s social media platform X, has already seen the release of two more sophisticated models — Grok 1.5 and later Grok 1.5V with image understanding, the company said.

“The funds from the round will be used to take xAI’s first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies,” the company said. “xAI is primarily focused on the development of advanced AI systems that are truthful, competent, and maximally beneficial for all of humanity. The company’s mission is to understand the true nature of the universe.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that with the latest infusion of cash into the company, it is now worth $24 billion, making it the second most valuable AI company in the world behind OpenAI, which was founded in 2015 and is worth an estimated $80 billion.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP

The $6 billion haul was double the number that Musk’s team was aiming for in its latest round of fundraising.

Musk has personally invested $750 million in the company while X has contributed $250 million, the report said. Musk previously said that outsiders investors would own 25% of the company.

One advantage that xAI has over its competitors is access to Musk’s other companies that it can use to collect data, including X, Tesla, and SpaceX.

“The two sources of unlimited data are synthetic data and real world video,” Musk said last month. “Tesla has a pretty big advantage in real-world video.”