BARKSDALE AFB, La. -- A B-2 and B-52 fly in formation over Shreveport, La., on May 10 during the Defenders of Liberty Airshow and Open House.

BARKSDALE AFB, La. -- A B-2 and B-52 fly in formation over Shreveport, La., on May 10 during the Defenders of Liberty Airshow and Open House. U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt Samuel Rogers

Northrop Grumman to Build Air Force Bomber — But Don’t Expect to See It Soon

After years of internal Pentagon fighting to keep the project alive, the air service reveals a builder, but little else.

Northrop Grumman will build the Air Force’s new stealth bomber, which will be one of the most futuristic planes ever built — and for a while, at least, among the most secret.

On Tuesday, the service announced the winner of the contract to develop the Long Range Strike-Bomber, a deal that includes options to buy the first five production lots, totaling 21 of a planned 100-plane fleet. The independent cost estimate for this development phase is $23.5 billion (in today's dollars), and the Air Force is aiming to bring that down, said William LaPlante, the service’s acquisition head. Service officials have estimated the total value of the program at $80 billion.

The winner beat out a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team.

"The Long Range Strike-Bomber will support America's defense strategy by forming the backbone of the Air Force's future strike and deterrent capabilities," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday announcing the winner.

The LRS-B, which will be the military’s first bomber since the B-2 was built in secret in the 1980s, is coming together under a similar veil of secrecy. On Tuesday, the Pentagon released an independent cost estimate of $564 million per aircraft ($511 million in 2010 dollars), down from an earlier estimate of $606 million ($550 million in 2010 dollars), but the actual budget remains classified. The Air Force declined even to release an artist's conception from the winning bid.

“You can always argue it’s too classified or not classified enough, but the simple idea behind the classification of the program is we need to preserve, as long as we can, the advantage of what we’re doing so that adversaries can’t already be trying to build defenses against it,” LaPlante told reporters last Wednesday.

Some have called the plane the B-3, but Air Force officials said that has not been decided yet. Even when the plane flies at an airshow for the first time, it, like most military aircraft, will have certain equipment that will remain classified.

LaPlante dropped just one hint: “We’re going to do something that, as far as we know, has never been done before on a major platform.”  

Related: Meet the Secretive Team Shaping The Air Force’s New Bomber

Related: Here Are A Few Things the New Air Force Bomber Will Do Besides Drop Bombs

Related: New Air Force Bomber Is a Critical Piece of the Pentagon’s Pacific Weaponry

Over the past four years, the Air Force has spent $1.9 billion on the secret bomber project, Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the Air Force’s military deputy for acquisition, said.

“As the company that developed and delivered the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, we look forward to providing the Air Force with a highly-capable and affordable next-generation Long Range Strike-Bomber," Wes Bush, chairman, CEO and president of Northrop Grumman, said in a statement.

Boeing and Lockheed, in a joint statement, said they were disappointed with the decision. "We are interested in knowing how the competition was scored in terms of price and risk, as we believe that the combination of Boeing and Lockheed Martin offers unparalleled experience, capability and resources for this critically important recapitalization program."

For the Air Force, the selection of Northrop Grumman marks a huge milestone. A decade ago, the service had hoped to have a new bomber battle-ready by 2018. But Pentagon officials decided that such a plane required so much new and unproven technology that it was more likely to be canceled than reach the battlefield.

“I stopped one new bomber program [in 2009] because I thought it was headed down the wrong path,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a rare appearance in Washington last week.

Two years later, Gates approved the LRS-B.

“I said … you've got to design it so you buy at least 100,” the former defense secretary told senators. “And … you have to start with technology that you understand.”

That was an attempt to avoid repeating the B-2’s fate: as technology-development costs mounted, the service’s 100-bomber purchase was cut to 21, and the per-plane price soared past $2 billion.

With the LRS-B, Air Force officials say they are budgeting for 100 planes and will keep the production cost of each bomber at $550 million in 2010 dollars. (That’s $606 million today.) That doesn’t include development costs. The Air Force's cost estimates peg the program at nearly $80 billion. Todd Harrison, a budget analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, projects the entire project to have consumed $111 billion when it finishes 25 years from now.

The plane will initially use mature or existing technologies, which should forestall the kinds of cost increases and delays that have afflicted the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other programs.

“Just because they’re existing and mature doesn’t mean that they’re in the open. It doesn’t mean that any of you even know about them,” LaPlante said.

Still, the plane’s most valuable asset is likely not any single whiz-bang gadget, but its modular operating system. The bomber is meant to be the Linux of aircraft, easily and cheaply upgradeable over the next three decades.

“You deliberately make the first version of it have the basic capabilities that you want and you have all the hooks in there and you have plans to upgrade the next version of it,” LaPlante said.

And a solid plan for easy upgrades helps stave off the impulse to goldplate the initial aircraft. As Gates said, the new bomber “needs to be something that we know we can get off the ground for a reasonable price and then as new technologies become available, integrate them into that system.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.