Air Force picks Northrop Grumman to build next big bomber

Northrop’s victory in the $55 billion Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) competition has been described as “stunning upset” against the cashed-up team of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and secures the B-2 creator’s place as a top-tier military aircraft manufacturer for decades to come.

Northrop Grumman won the contract over a partnership between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

246-a-07-(Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, at news conference)-“high-end threat environment”-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James says the service needs this long-range strike bomber’s modern capabilities”. “I’m going to tell you right now that the average procurement unit cost from the independent cost estimates supporting today’s award is $511 million per aircraft in 2010 dollars when procuring a 100 aircraft”. A few have dubbed it “B-3”, since it follows the B-2, which entered service in the late 1980s. The Air Force’s last bomber, the B-2, set taxpayers back around $2 billion for each of 21 copies.

This marks the Air Force’s second drive to start replacing its aging B-52 and B-1 bombers in recent years.

“We have committed to the American people to provide security in the skies, balanced by our responsibility to affordably use taxpayer dollars in doing so.”

“The Air Force has made the right decision for our nation’s security”, said chairman, CEO and president Wes Bush.

The Air Force plans to buy 80 to 100 of the bombers, which will cost at least $550 million per plane in fiscal 2010 dollars. The award “is only financially significant” for Northrop, although all of the contestants have a stake in the outcome, said Carter Copeland, a New York-based defense analyst with Barclays Plc.

The program is highly classified and the Air Force did not offer many details on the design or a prototype illustration of the new bomber.

Pratt & Whitney spokesman Matthew Bates said the company “congratulates Northrop Grumman for their selection on this very important program” but declined “to comment on any other questions regarding the Long Range Strike Bomber program”. Approximately $1.9 billion was appropriated during the past four fiscal years for risk-reduction activities to reach the EMD phase now.

According to the Air Force, they want a durable and stealthy plane that is created to fly deep into the territory of the enemy in order to attack targets that are hidden or mobile.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the bomber, known commonly as the “B-3”, would serve as the “backbone of the Air Force’s future strike and deterrence capabilities”.