The future Air Force Northrop Grumman B-21 stealth strategic bomber will cost $203 billion over 30 years

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Air Force’s next-generation B-21 stealth bomber program will likely cost taxpayers at least $203 billion to develop, purchase and operate 100 aircraft over 30 years, according to new service estimates. Bloomberg reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

9 Dec.2021 -- The figure represents the most complete estimate to date for the heavily classified B-21 strategic bomber program won by Northrop Grumman Corp. in 2015.

The total cost, priced in fiscal year 2019 dollars, includes $25.1 billion for development, $64 billion for production, and $114 billion for 30 years of sustaining and operating a fleet of 100 bombers.

Those costs are part of a huge bow wave of spending facing the U.S. military and American taxpayers as the Pentagon seeks to upgrade the nation’s land-sea-air triad of nuclear weapons, and for systems like new Ford-class aircraft carriers, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, and nearly 2,500 F-35 jet fighter-bombers for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines.

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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics