ORLANDO, Fla. — The US Air Force secretary unveiled the first official rendering of the new Long Range Strike Bomber and revealed its official designation: the B-21.
In a speech at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium on Feb. 26, Secretary Deborah Lee James shared an artist's concept design of the next-generation bomber, which will be built by Northrop Grumman. She also announced the plane's long-awaited designation, calling it the B-21.
Last edited by Stratofreighter on 19 Sep 2016, 17:12, edited 3 times in total.
Well... That's going to be an expensive plane.. As known, the B-2 is the world's most expensive aircraft, this revamp will probably beat its sister in terms of performance, bomb load, speed and cost. Curious to see it in real.
Northrop's B-21 Bomber May Get World War II-Inspired Name
Northrop Grumman's (NOC) new stealth bomber may get a moniker inspired by a World War II-era plane, a defense source told IBD Friday.
Names for popular bombers during WWII include Boeing's (BA) B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress as well as Consolidated Vultee's B-24 Liberator.
For now, the long-range strike bomber is known as the B-21.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James will officially reveal its name at her State of the Force address on Monday at 10:30 a.m. ET at the Air Force Association's Annual Air, Space and Cyber conference.
The Air Force received over 4,600 suggestions from airmen as part of a naming contest before narrowing the list down to 15 options in May.
Northrop's other stealth bomber is called the B-2 Spirit.
The company beat a Boeing-Lockheed Martin (LMT) team for the B-21 contract last year to replace Cold War-era Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
The Air Force has put the development cost for the B-21 at $23.5 billion and the per-plane cost at $564 million in 2016 dollars.
Analysts have estimated the total acquisition cost at up to $80 billion, but the Pentagon has been reluctant to be specific to prevent its capabilities from being inferred.
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