Boeing and Lockheed Martin said Friday they have got teamed as much as bid for a brand new $55 billion US Air Force bomber program geared toward replacing the aging bomber fleet.
Boeing is acting because the prime contractor, and Lockheed is the principle teammate within the bid to produce the Air Force’s Long-Range Strike Bomber program, the businesses said in a joint statement.
“Boeing and Lockheed Martin are bringing together the most effective of the 2 enterprises, and the remainder of industry, in support of the Long-Range Strike Bomber program, and we’re honored to support our US Air Force customer and this significant national priority,” said Dennis Muilenburg, president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
Air force spokesman Ed Gulick said this system aims to construct between 80 and 100 of the brand new, long-range stealthy bombers.
“The LRS-B program is a top modernization priority for the Air Force and significant to our national security. The Air Force looks forward to working with all participating industry partners in this extremely important program,” he said.
The cost of every plane is set $550 million, he said, putting the whole value of this system if all 100 planes are built at $55 billion. Deliveries are because of begin within the mid 2020s, “before the present aging fleet goes out of service,” he said.
Shares in Dow member Boeing jumped 1.7 percent and Lockheed’s stock rose 1.0 percent.
The air force has two programs, the B-1 and the B-2, aimed toward replacing the aging B-52s but they were wracked with heavy cost overruns. The air force only bought 20 of Northrop Grumman’s B-2s, the most recent long-range bomber in its fleet.
For the improvement of the brand new bomber, the air force budgeted $292 million in fiscal year 2013 that ended September 30, and $379 million within the current fiscal 2014.
Both Boeing and Lockheed currently have projects underway for the usa Air Force. Boeing, which built the B-52 fleet, is developing the KC-46 refueling tanker and Lockheed is operating at the newest stealth F-35 fighter jet.
“The team might be ready to produce unique and affordable solutions which can not be achieved without partnering,” they said.
Design using ‘proven technologies’
In 2011, then-defense secretary Robert Gates launched the subsequent-generation bomber project.
According to the Pentagon, the hot bomber ought to be designed using “proven technologies” to create a protracted-range, nuclear-capable and optionally remotely piloted aircraft to be able to be capable to operate and survive in highly contested areas densely protected by air defenses.
“We’re confident that our team will meet the well-defined system requirements and deliver a worldwide-class next-generation Long-Range Strike Bomber to the U.S. Air Force in the budget and timeframe required,” said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice chairman of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
Despite the pointy “sequester” spending cuts for the Pentagon and an extended budget battle in Washington, “the bomber program will go forward as planned,” said Loren Thompson, a defense consultant on the Lexington Institute.
The Usa has fewer than 200 long-range bombers, with an ordinary age of 30 years, he noted.
The B-52s date back to the 1960s, the B-1s to the 1980s under the Reagan administration and the B-2 were inbuilt the 1990s, he said.
The B-2, built by Northrop Grumman, “is considered probably the most capable bomber we have” as it is “nearly invisible,” he said, but they were “extremely expensive.”
The air force’s view of its needs has changed because the B-2 was launched, designed to destroy mobile nuclear targets in Russia through the Cold War.
Today’s bomber mission is different, in that the aircraft are carrying essentially non-nuclear bombs over long distances.
Thompson said it was likely Northrop Grumman would mount a team to bid at the program.
Richard Aboulafia, an aviation consultant with the Teal Group, said that Boeing and Lockheed needed to partner within the bidding.
“I would give them a terrific 65 percent chance together — all alone they’d no chance,” Aboulafia said.
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