CORRECTED: Attribution of Air Force Buying New Advanced Fighter NATIONAL HARBOR: The Air Force’s new bomber, the B-21 Raider, should come in almost $40 million below the official $550 million a copy official estimate, says Randall Walden, director of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office. So, $511 million is the new $550 million. After his… Keep reading →

ST. LOUIS: Boeing and Saab unveiled their long-awaited entry for the Air Force’s next generation trainer, known as T-X, an intriguing mix of Super Hornet and a Gripen. The plane is designed to go straight to production without passing through the conventional development stages of a military aircraft. While our colleagues at Aviation Week and… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Adds ACC Carlisle, CSAF Goldfein, SecAF James JPO Bogdan Comments PENTAGON: Critics of the F-35 warned it was too heavy. They warned its stealth wasn’t good enough. They warned stealth, however good, wasn’t enough against advanced detection methods. They warned its range was too short and its weapons load too light. They warned it was… Keep reading →

CORRECTED: Fixes CEO Marillyn Hewson’s name. Sigh… FARNBOROUGH: A pair of cost initiatives by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and the Pentagon should save up to $4 billion over the life of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, officials said here today. Frank Kendall, the head Pentagon buyer, the F-35 Joint Program Office, and… Keep reading →

The classified costs of the B-21 bomber should remain secret because revealing the figure would be “too insightful for the adversaries to get a sense of what they can do (and) what the U.S. can do in building that next generation bomber,” the official in charge of the program said Tuesday. The bomber’s Engineering and Manufacturing… Keep reading →

[UPDATED with Bryan Clark comment] The Navy and Northrop Grumman just took a major step forward on defending ships from enemy missiles. Northrop announced this afternoon it had passed a Critical Design Review (CDR) for a new jamming and spoofing system for Navy warships, Block III of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP, rhymes with Cool-Whip).… Keep reading →

The Army’s new plug-and-play network for missile defense passed its third flight test on April 8th. In a particularly complex exercise, the Integrated Air & Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) controlled two types of radar and two types of Patriot missile shooting down two types of incoming missile in the same engagement, contractor Northrop… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: Pratt and Whitney, as many assumed, will design and build the engines for the B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber, leaving B-2 bomber engine maker General Electric out in the cold. Air Fore Secretary Deborah Lee James‘ announcement of Pratt’s role, as well as that of six other subcontractors working with prime Northrop Grumman, during… Keep reading →

AFA WINTER: The name is not nearly as euphonious as the B-3, nor as descriptive as Long Range Strike Bomber, but Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has officially named Northrop Grumman’s aircraft the B-21 (hint — it’s the 21st century…). James, who rumors said would unveil some details about the bomber, only unveiled the… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Adds Aboulafia Comment, SecAF, Boeing, Northrop Statements.  WASHINGTON: The Government Accountability Office upheld the Long Range Strike Bomber contract award to Northrop Grumman today, smoothing the way for one of the Pentagon’s highest priority programs and erasing fears that the dismissal of the service’s top acquisition official for his ties to Northrop might affect the decision.… Keep reading →