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Air Force

Higher Prices for 19 B-21s to Follow 21 in Five Lot LRIP Could Help Northrop Grumman Stave Off Losses on Program

Frank Wolfe

Thursday, June 20th, 2024

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Higher Prices for 19 B-21s to Follow 21 in Five Lot LRIP Could Help Northrop Grumman Stave Off Losses on Program

The 509th and 131st Bomb Wings on Apr. 15 capped off Exercise Spirit Vigilance at Whiteman AFB, Mo. with a fly-off of 12 B-2 Spirit bombers. The B-21 Raider is to succeed the B-2 (U.S. Air Force Photo)

The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman [NOC] are negotiating prices for 19 B-21 Raider stealth bombers to follow the 21 scheduled for five lots of low-rate initial production (LRIP), and the average prices for those 19 will be higher than for the earlier 21, the company said. An inflation and other price uptick for the B-21 would help Northrop Grumman avoid future losses on what has been a fixed-price effort on which the company took a nearly $1.6 billion…

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