Northrop Grumman to build new bombers

  • 28/10/2015
Northrop Grumman to build new bombers

Northrop Grumman has beaten Boeing and Lockheed Martin to win a multibillion-dollar contract to build America's next generation of long-distance bomber.

The award, valued at more than US$55 billion, would create up to 100 strategic bombers to replace America's ageing fleet of B-52 and B-1 bombers.

"We believe that our decision represents the best value for our nation," Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said at a Pentagon news conference.

"I am pleased to announce that our United States Air Force has awarded the Long Range Strike Bomber contract to the Northrop Grumman Corporation."

The cost of the program will equate to US$564 million per plane, officials said.

The new planes will replace America's B-52 bombers, relics of the Cold War that are still in use.

The average age of a B-52 - widely used in the Vietnam War and in the first Gulf War - is 51.

B-1 bombers, first deployed in the 1980s, are on average 29 years old.

Northrop's stock price jumped 6.31 percent in after-hours trading.

AFP