New Aircraft Subject Of Pentagon Meeting Last Week

The long-awaited announcement of a new bomber for the U.S. Air Force could come Tuesday after the markets close, according to Pentagon sources.

Bloomberg Business reports that Air Force officials may hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to announce whether Northrop Grumman or a team of Boeing and Lockheed Martin will be selected to build the follow-on aircraft to the B-2 Spirit bomber. A source who requested anonymity said that in a meeting Friday, Pentagon weapons buyer Frank Kendall briefed senior officials on the final selection.

Teal Group defense analyst Richard Aboulafia said that the announcement would be the "biggest airframe contract of the decade." The aircraft are expected to cost about $550 million each in 2010 dollars, and 100 aircraft may eventually be built.

Air Force Officials have said that the initial contract would have a development phase with incentives for controlling costs, as well as a fixed-price incentive for the first 20 of the airplanes.

(B-2 bomber pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.defense.gov