Air Force unveils B-21 stealth plane. It's not a boondoggle, for a change.
Air Force unveils B-21 stealth bomber to counter China. The F-35 fighter jet and B-2 bomber can't compete, as the Pentagon does a good procurement job.
The Pentagon on Friday is finally lifting the veil of secrecy on its latest defense mega-project, a next-generation stealth bomber called the B-21 Raider capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear weapons across the globe. Six are already at various stages of assembly at a secretive facility near Palmdale, California.
Each new B-21 is pegged at roughly $729.25 million, and the U.S. Air Force expects to procure at least 100 of them. Costs for research and development, procurement and routine operations over 30 years for that many of the two-seat bombers are expected to total $203 billion.
In a real jaw-dropper, the program has reportedly come in under its $25 billion budget. Factoring in inflation, it’s half the price of the exorbitantly expensive B-2 stealth bomber it’s meant to replace.
At this juncture, it may sound like time to tear into yet another out-of-control defense program. Over the last three decades, Pentagon big-ticket projects like the F-35 stealth fighter have been beset by huge cost overruns and delay-inducing technical problems. In some cases they outright failed. Just as bad, other endeavors like the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship took so long to develop that they were conceptually obsolete by the time they entered service.
But by most accounts, including those of congressional critics of prior flawed programs, the B-21 has avoided major cost overruns and delays thanks to disciplined program management (though the first flight did get pushed back by six months). And in a real jaw-dropper, the program has reportedly come in under its $25 billion budget. Factoring in inflation, it’s half the price of the exorbitantly expensive B-2 stealth bomber it’s meant to replace.
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