Northrop Grumman received the «green light» from the Pentagon to begin low rate initial production (LRIP) of the B-21 «Raider», the U.S. Air Force’s new stealth bomber, and first sixth-generation combat aircraft to begin production.

“Production of the B-21 ‘Raider’ stealth bomber is moving forward. This past fall, based on the results of ground and flight tests and the team’s mature plans for manufacturing, I gave the go-ahead to begin producing B-21s at a low rate,” Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment William LaPlante said in a statement to Breaking Defense.

“One of the key attributes of this program has been designing for production from the start — and at scale — to provide a credible deterrent to adversaries. If you don’t produce and field to warfighters at scale, the capability doesn’t really matter,” he added.

See also: The B-21 Raider had its first flight

This important announcement came just days after news that the B-21 prototype had completed its second test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. It is the first of six pre-production examples that Northrop Grumman built for the test program.

«As communicated by the U.S. Air Force, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider has entered the initial production phase at a low rate. Our team received the contract award after the B-21 entered flight test within the program’s baseline schedule. Our production representative test aircraft demonstrated production readiness, meeting all performance and flight data requirements,» the company said in a statement.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) plans to acquire at least 100 B-21 «Raider» bombers, which will form the backbone of its future nuclear deterrent capability. According to Northrop Grumman, the Raider is the first sixth-generation combat aircraft to enter service, thanks to its enhanced stealth capabilities, high-volume information handling and open architecture systems, which will allow the aircraft to evolve rapidly through technology upgrades that provide new capabilities to overcome future threats.