flight international

NEWS FOCUS

fiightglobal.com 8-14 March 2016 | Flight International | 11

No gamble for BA

as fire-damaged

777 leaves Vegas

AIR TRANSPORT P

T

he US Air Force has revealed

its first new bomber for the

21st century: the Northrop Grum-

man B-21, as the defeated indus-

try team which had also bid for

the long-range strike bomber

(LRS-B) requirement has dropped

its threat of a further appeal.

Announced on 26 February

during an Air Warfare Symposi-

um event in Orlando, Florida, the

official designation was revealed

as the USAF for the first time also

showed an artist’s rendering of the

still-classified bomber. This

shows a flying wing design simi-

lar to its in-service Northrop B-2,

and the company’s concept for the

previous next-generation bomber.

The air force is currently reliant

on its 54-year-old Boeing B-52H

and 28-year-old Boeing B-1B

fleets, along with its 21-year-old

B-2 Spirits. As its only in-service

stealth bombers, the latter will be

in use through 2060, service offi-

cials say.

CASE DROPPED

“Our fifth-generation global preci-

sion attack platform will give our

country a networked sensor-shoot

capability that will allow us to

hold targets at risk in a way the

world and our adversaries have

never, ever seen,” says USAF sec-

retary Deborah Lee James.

The air force picked Northrop’s

LRS-B design last October, and in-

structed the company to resume

development on 16 February, after

the US Government Accountabili-

ty Office (GAO) rejected a protest

from the losing Boeing/Lockheed

Martin team. The disputed selec-

tion process was “reasonable and

consistent” with the terms of the

solicitation and government pro-

curement laws, it concluded.

“While we remain firmly con-

vinced of the validity of the issues

raised in our protest, the Boeing-

Lockheed Martin team has decid-

ed not to pursue further challeng-

es to that award, either through

the GAO or in federal court,” the

companies announced on 26 Feb-

ruary, attributing their decision to

“the best interests of our customer

and the warfighter”.

Boeing had previously de-

scribed the selection process as

“fundamentally flawed”, but a tel-

ephone conversation between

chief executive Dennis Muilen-

burg and the USAF secretary ap-

pears to have softened the compa-

ny’s resolve.

Describing the discussion with

Muilenburg as “encouraging”,

James comments: “Boeing is a very

valuable partner and we have a lot

going on with Boeing – and we

need to get on with the bomber.”

The B-21 will cost $23.5 billion

to develop and will have a unit

cost of $564 million, according to

US government estimates.

Northrop is believed to have

significantly underbid its rivals

during the competition, and has

committed to a firm, fixed-price

contract for the first five produc-

tion lots of a combined 21 aircraft.

The USAF has not revealed how

many will be built for testing.

The air force wants to acquire

100 B-21s, but the head of its

Global Strike Command has

called for a bolstered future force.

“I prefer to use the term ‘mini-

mum of 100’, and we’ll continue

to refine that,” says Gen Robin

Rand. “I’m going to bring to the

major command commanders

some proposals, but we will need

a combination of bombers that

will be somewhere in the 175-

range.” Further discussions will

take place later this month.

Rand says he does not imagine

keeping more than four bomber

types in use at any one time,

meaning that the balance of a

shortfall compared to today’s force

of 159 aircraft could mean order-

ing more of the new model. The

USAF would need between 16

and 41 extra bombers to meet his

proposed new force size: suffi-

cient to equip three or four addi-

tional squadrons.

Meanwhile, James also used

the symposium to show an artist’s

impression of an “arsenal plane”

concept recently outlined by de-

fence secretary Ashton Carter.

This depicted a seemingly un-

manned aircraft which combined

the fuselage of a Lockheed C-

tactical transport with the wing

and eight engines from a B-52. In a

video, this was depicted launch-

ing a barrage of networked Ray-

theon Small Diameter Bomb II

glide weapons against mobile

enemy radar warning and air de-

fence targets.

CREATIVE THINKING

“There’s various artist’s renditions

or videos that may attempt to show

what this is like, but there has been

no decision, per se, on the type of

aircraft that would become this ar-

senal,” she says. “But I offered it up

as an example of some of the crea-

tive thinking that is not only tech-

nology driven, but sometimes in-

volves repurposing existing aircraft

as concepts of operation.”

Also commenting on the con-

cept, USAF chief of staff Gen Mark

Welsh notes a platform choice

would depend on the types and

size of weapons it would carry,

and also on how quickly it should

be able to get into position. “That’s

the discussion we’re in right now,”

he says, adding: “it’s going to be a

fascinating discussion”. ■

US Air Force

The new type will replace service’s venerable B-52H inventory

DEVELOPMENT JAMES DREW ORLANDO

B-21 bomber breaks cover for USAF

Formal designation for Northrop LRS-B platform confirmed, as Boeing/Lockheed Martin team drops threat of further protest

“We will need a

combination of

bombers that will be

somewhere in the

175-200 range”

GEN ROBIN RAND

Commander of Global Strike

Command, US Air Force

US Air Force

Flying wing design bears

resemblance to current B-

FIN_080316_011.indd 11 03/03/2016 15: