
The U.S. Air Force is to buy the first 40 B-21 Raider stealth bombers--out of a planned service buy of at least 100--through "fixed price options," Defense Secretary William LaPlante said last week. The bomber "entered limited rate production" last November and "remains on track to meet its key performance parameter for Average Procurement Unit Cost (APUC) of $550 million in Base Year 2010 dollars," according to LaPlante's prepared testimony to a May 15 hearing of the Senate Appropriation Committee's…