Secret U.S. stealth bomber project underway

The Pentagon has awarded Northrop Grumman the $80 billion contract to design and build a top-secret, next-generation strategic bomber for the U.S. Air Force, beating a team led by Boeing

Aircraft could operate

LONG RANGE STRIKE BOMBER (LRS-B)

Crew:

both with and without pilots

80-100 aircraft

Procurement:

to replace fleet of ageing B-52

and B-1 bombers, beginning

in mid-2020s

Large

Armament:

payload bay capable

of carrying range of

direct attack and

standoff weapons –

conventional and

nuclear

Cost

per aircraft

$564 million

(in 2016

dollars)

Classified

Array of “low observable”

Specifications:

Stealth:

Likely to be subsonic

technologies to prevent aircraft

being tracked by hostile radar

Speed:

Possibly 9,000km

Unrefuelled range:

Northrop Grumman B-2

U.S. stealth bomber

entered service

in 1993

(21 built)

Northrop Grumman X-47B

Unmanned combat air vehicle

demonstrator built

for U.S. Navy

19m

Wingspan 52m

Smaller, less costly version of B-2,

LRS-B:

perhaps midway in size between B-2 and X-47B

LRS-B payload would be less than B-2,

but new bomber could carry large number

of lightweight smart weapons

Sources: Flightglobal, Federation of American Scientists, wire agencies