Air Force Says Disclosing Bomber's Secret Cost Would Aid Enemies
- Contract value said to give clues to plane's weight, payload
- Release of U.S. contract award to Northrop sought by McCain
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The Air Force won’t make public the contract value of Northrop Grumman Corp.’s winning bid for the B-21 bomber, saying that would make it “decisively easier” for U.S. adversaries to determine the stealth aircraft’s range and weapons payload.
There is a “strong correlation between the cost of an air vehicle and its total weight,” Randall Walden, director of the Air Force’s secretive Rapid Capabilities Office, which is overseeing the B-21 program, wrote in a letter to Senator John McCain, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee.