The Air Force’s secretive and lucrative Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) program is progressing according to plan, according to a key service official.
Assistant Air Force Secretary for Acquisition Bill LaPlante told a Senate panel Thursday, when asked about an increase in the program’s unit cost, that the $550 million cost per aircraft was “baked” into the program as a key performance parameter (KPP).
“Nothing has changed with LRSB,” LaPlante told the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee. “We completely designed the program around affordability.”
The Air Force has been largely mum about the classified program that ranks among the service’s top priorities, along with F-35 and KC-46. One thing Air Force officials have spoke publicly about is cost, which LaPlante reiterated: 100 airplanes at $550 million each for a total of $55 billion.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said Air Force officials, in a previous hearing, intimated the “then-year” cost would be well over $640 mil per aircraft if annual inflation was extrapolated out to 2025. LaPlante defended the $550 million price tag.
“One hundred airplanes, even the first one that comes off the line will be fixed price,” LaPlante said. “I don’t know if people are confused or they’re bringing up inflation, but it’s pretty straight forward and nothing has changed.”
Air Force officials have said they’re fighting off requirements creep to avoid repeating mistakes from the B-2 bomber program and help maintain the $550 million price tag of LRSB. The B-2 became so expensive per aircraft that the Air Force only acquired 20 B-2s. Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said while the production portion of the program will be fixed-price, the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) portion will likely be cost-plus, meaning DoD will pay for overages.
The Air Force requested $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2016 for LRSB research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) and anticipates requesting $13.8 billion through FY ’20.
The Air Force issued the request for proposals (RFP) last summer. Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA] are teaming while B-2 incumbent Northrop Grumman [NOC] is expected to be competing, but hasn’t publicly declared (Defense Daily, July 29).