Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor on development of the B-21, an aircraft nicknamed the Raider. The B-21 will replace the Air Force’s aging B-52 Stratofortress bombers and the B-1B Lancer.
Bunch also said the B-21 bomber is being outfitted with additional power, space and other features “so that we can grow the platform for the future. We can do it in a more efficient manner because we won’t need to test as much, and I personally believe we will increase our cyber security as we go through that process.”
There’s also been more scrutiny of the B-21 given the history of cost overruns on other large military contracts, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program from Lockheed Martin.
The general said preliminary design review on the B-21 was completed and the Air Force was now going into “detailed design review.”
“The contractor [Northrop] is hiring people at the appropriate level to get the work done,” he said. “We’re tracking what they’re doing. Everything right now to me indicates that we haven’t slipped anything.”
Watch: Inside the F-35 Fighter factory
