The $1.7 trillion-dollar federal spending package contains billions for a nuclear capable stealth bomber that will call Ellsworth Air Force Base home.
Republican U.S. Senator Mike Rounds said Congress is authorizing $4.8 billion dollars in funding for further development and purchase of the B-21 Raider.
Rounds said millions are also available to assist the Black Hills region to prepare for the bomber’s arrival.
“About $335 million of the funding in the bill went to the B-21 stealth raider construction work at Ellsworth. That’s for the bed down of the B-21,” Rounds said. “And about $15 million that is going to go to assist the school systems in and around Ellsworth Air Force Base. So, this helps those school systems get ready for the additional children that are going to be there as the B-21 starts to show up.”
Rounds and fellow Republican Senator John Thune voted in favor of the federal spending package. Republican Representative Dusty Johnson voted against it. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the package.
The B-21 bomber was unveiled earlier this year in California. It is expected to arrive at Ellsworth in the middle of the decade.
