The aircraft will be constructed in Marietta, Georgia, and is expected to be complete and work on the contract will be completed by April 30,2017, the release said.
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In an eagerly anticipated announcement they made late on October 27 after United States financial markets closed, Air Force officials described a two-part contract award.
Almost 30 years after the first US stealth bomber took flight, the Air Force’s aging fleet is primed for a makeover; albeit an expensive one. The deal has an estimated value of up to $80 billion.
“It’s not only that a few of this stuff has been wind-tunneled, or prototyped, or flown”, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition William LaPlante said last week.
The contract includes the management of various Northrop Grumman-supplied products and systems including the WSN Ring Laser Gyro Navigation system, AN/BPS-15/16 Radar Set Weapon system, Steering/Scalable Integrated Bridge System and SPQ-9B radar set items. This translates to $564 million per plane in fiscal year 2016 dollars.
LRS-B’s projected unit cost is higher compared to the B-1, but significantly lower relative to the $1.5 billion price tag of Northrop’s B-2, according to an Air Force handout.
The Long Range Strike Bomber contract is composed of two parts.
“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”, he said. “We will have further discussions with our customer before determining our next steps”, the team said in a statement. “We face a complex security environment”, she said.
“This is the biggest military aircraft contract that will be awarded in the current decade anywhere in the world”, said Loren Thompson, a defence analyst with the Lexington Institute.
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Lockheed and Boeing already have a number of warplanes in production and have large enough businesses across the board to be financially insulated from the loss. A debriefing to both companies is required within 10 calendar days.
