Northrop Grumman picked to build nextgen bomber
For US Air Force
WASHINGTON (AP) – The US Air Force said it chose Northrop Grumman Corp., maker of the B-2 stealth bomber, to build its next-generation bomber, a highly classified, $55-billion project designed to replace the aging bomber fleet with an information-age aircraft that eventually may be capable of flying without a pilot aboard.
The loser of the high-stakes bidding contest was a team formed by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
The announcement marks an important step in the Pentagon's broader plan to modernize the entire nuclear force – missile-toting submarines, landbased intercontinental ballistic missiles and long-range bombers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cost at $348 billion over 10 years, and others have said it could approach $1 trillion over 30 years.
The Navy is committed to building a new fleet of 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarines to replace its 14 Trident submarines, and the Air Force is preparing to launch a program to build a modernized fleet of land-based ICBMs to replace its Minuteman 2 force. It's unclear, however, how the Navy and Air Force will manage this in an era of shrinking budgets.
The new bomber is a high Air Force priority because the oldest ones in its fleet – the venerable B-52s _ have far outlived their expected service life and even the newest – the B-2 stealth bombers – having been flying for more than two decades. A third bomber, the B-1, is used heavily for conventional strikes, but no longer is certified for nuclear missions.
The Air Force has said it will buy up to 100 of the new bombers for $550 million each. Industry news reports say that while the new plane's specific capabilities are highly secret, it likely will be equipped with high-tech communications gear and other electronics that would allow it to perform a variety of missions, not just dropping bombs.
For the defense companies who sought the contract, the stakes were high. Boeing has built most of the Air Force's bombers, including the B-52. And it collaborated with Lockheed Martin on the F-22 stealth fighter. Northrop Grumman built the B-2 bomber fleet, which was originally planned to include 132 planes but was scaled back to 21 at the end of the Cold War.
Loren Thompson, a vocal advocate of the new bomber program, says it is a key part of modernizing the military at a time of increased US focus on China's growing might.