Overview
- A video filmed Tuesday near McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas shows a large gray military aircraft and was shared widely by outlets after being posted by a TikTok user.
- Reporters and plane-spotting observers have suggested the image could be the new B‑21 Raider, with some pointing to a window reflection in the footage as possible visual evidence.
- No U.S. government or Air Force official has confirmed the aircraft’s identity, and analysts have raised other possibilities including the older B‑2 Spirit or unacknowledged drones such as the RQ‑170 or RQ‑180.
- The B‑21 program, built by Northrop Grumman, is a classified, nuclear-capable stealth bomber unveiled in 2022 that the Air Force says will enter service within the next decade and that it hopes to buy about 100 aircraft at an average cost around $692 million each.
- Because many B‑21 details remain secret and McConnell has hosted B‑2 refueling, the sighting underscores how program secrecy and routine base operations can make public verification of rare military flights difficult and likely to draw continued media attention.