Pentagon to Award Long-Range Bomber Deal

Northrop Grumman, developers of the current B-2 stealth bomber, beat out a team of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which also fought for the contract.

The Air Force has not released crucial details about the plane itself. Though the exact specifications are under wraps and many more will be added as the designs evolve, the bomber may have autonomous flying capabilities too, reported CNN. Top officials also declined to say what companies will build key components of the aircraft.

The initial $21 billion contract is for engineering and development of the LRSB.

Based on the cost-estimates that have been outlined in the contract, each LRS bomber will cost $511 million in 2010 dollars which easily meets the threshold of $550 million that was allotted by the Pentagon.

The $55 billion-plus contract covers the first 21 jets out of the 100 sought by the Air Force to replace its aging bomber fleet, including the 30-year-old B-2s. This translates to $564 million per plane in FY16 dollars. “Building this bomber is a strategic investment in the next 50 years and represents our aggressive commitment to a strong and balanced force”, Carter said.

“It’s a full-up aircraft that we received”, Bunch said. A contract award was originally expected last spring, but was delayed for months with no explanation.

Image from Northrop Grumman ad for the next-generation bomber.

The new Long-Range Strike Bomber will be one of the Pentagon’s biggest weapons systems of the next decade, and is slated to enter service in the mid 2020s. The spokesman deferred any other questions to the Air Force.

Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corp. has won an intense four-year long competition to build the nation’s new fleet of long-range stealth bombers, a project likely to create thousands of jobs in Southern California. “The entire process was carried out with a high level of transparency with our industry partners and was scrutinized via DOD peer reviews”. Defense firms can protest contract awards to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), and there is nothing in place to formally discourage protests. And it collaborated with Lockheed Martin on the F-22 stealth fighter. “A platform with terrific penetrating capability and wonderful avionics, from a cyber-warfare standpoint, is a fantastic asset”, aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group told Popular Mechanics.

Boeing, which has its Defense, Space and Security unit in St. Louis, is considering protesting the Pentagon’s decision.

James said the bombers would allow the Air Force to launch an airstrike in the continental United States to anywhere in the world. 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.