Ellsworth Air Force Base's B-21s unveiled with South Dakota delegation on hand

Listen: Sens. Mike Rounds, John Thune laud development of nuclear bomber that is headed to Black Hills

The United States Air Force’s next generation of stealth bombers that will fly out of a South Dakota military base are inching toward fruition.

The long-awaited B-21 Raider – the first new bomber aircraft developed by the U.S. Department of Defense in decades, was unveiled for the first time Friday in California. And once it gets out of the testing phase and becomes fully operational for military purposes, it’ll be heading to South Dakota.

That’s because the Air Force last year announced that Ellsworth Air Force Base would be the first location for the state-of-the-art weapons system.

VIDEO: Dusty Johnson gives update on B-21 from California

“We’ll have a total of three new squadrons of B-21 bombers that will be at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and the manpower that comes with it, the support team that comes with it and also the fact that we’ll have a nuclear weapons generation facility … that brings in a whole different group of individuals with specialties as well,” Sen. Mike Rounds told The Dakota Scout Friday morning before boarding a flight to California where he attended the unveiling.

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