B-21 Bomber Delivers Pentagon Surprise: It’s Under Budget So Far
- Air Force devotes savings to reducing technical risks later
- Northrop Grumman won bomber contract over Lockheed-Boeing
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Northrop Grumman Corp.’s cost estimate for developing the new B-21 stealth bomber has come in lower than the US Air Force’s $25.1 billion projection, according to the service’s chief weapons buyer, a rare early-stage success story among major weapons programs that routinely run billions over budget.
“We had money in the program budget that went beyond the contractually required payments” so that “gave us the opportunity” to target the money for early spending on riskier aspects of the program, Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary for acquisition, said in an interview.