Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem announced in her 2024 State of the State speech that Ellsworth Air Force Base will soon be the home of the B-21 Raider.
As seen in the AP video below, the stealth bomber took its first test flight from Northrop Grumman’s facility in Palmdale, California, in November 2023.
B-21 RAIDER FIRST FLIGHT 11-10-23 #RAIDER33 #B21Raider pic.twitter.com/3tEKudqDiw
— Matt Hartman (@ShorealoneFilms) November 10, 2023
According to the U.S. Air Force, the “long-range, highly-survivable aircraft capable of penetrating enemy airspace with a mix of weapons” is expected to enter service by 2027.
In the speech, Noem warned: “Our enemies are going to do everything they can to get intelligence on that bomber.” She added: “It is our duty to do what we must do here in South Dakota to ensure that they fail.”
Note: The U.S. Department of Defense, which owns and operates the Ellsworth Air Force Base, is responsible for managing all aspects of security at military bases.
#7 Way that Freedom Works Here: Freedom to Be Secure
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) January 15, 2024
SD's Ellsworth Air Force Base will soon be the home of the B-21 Raider. And Biden's failed border policies are making South Dakotans less safe here at home.
It is our duty to oppose our enemies and keep our people safe. https://t.co/4VfWt6cKvP pic.twitter.com/7s6EReTpBM
The Governor added: “Sometimes keeping people safe means that we need to extend our efforts beyond South Dakota,” and proceeded to criticize “the Biden administration’s failures at the border” which she says are “making South Dakotans less safe here at home.”
Noem then reminded her constituents that in the past three years, South Dakota National Guard troops have gone three times to the border “to help.”
According to Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, the troops Noem sent to the border in 2021 “had uneventful days with no encounters and little to do,” and reportedly cost $1,451,699.59.
The funds to send Noem’s South Dakota Guard troops were provided in part by wealthy Republican donors, the ethics of which has been called into question, with one lawyer quoted in the New York Times saying the Governor was “using troops there that are a resource and have been paid for by taxpayers…for a political show by a high-powered donor.”
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