Northrop Grumman will develop the new US strategic bomber. The choice fell on the turning wing of Northrop Grumman which prevailed over the prototype proposed by the Boeing / Lockheed Martin team. Both have proposed flying wings.
The first Air Force contract provides for the purchase of five lots for a total of 21 aircraft. The B-3 will be assembled in Palmdale, in the same plants where the B-1 and the B-2 (built by Northrop) were built.
The next generation super bomber of American aviation (some may even be unmanned) is now a reality. We already know the price of the new bomber: 550 million dollars per specimen per fleet composed of 100 new generation aircraft and a total cost of 55 billion dollars.
The new bomber will cost a quarter of the B-2, currently under the USAF. The twenty-one aircraft built and the prohibitive operating costs relegate the B-2 more to propaganda aircraft than to realistic combat aircraft (also because there are no theaters that require the strength, power and technology of the B-2 dissolved the USSR ).
The Long Range Strike-Bomber is considered a top priority for the Air Force. The US Air Force wants a long-range subsonic bomber with high aerodynamic efficiency, the ability to evade any kind of air defense and a practically zero RCS (Radar Cross Section). The very low radar signature is a fundamental prerequisite of the new bomber.
In addition to conventional armament, the future bomber will have the ability to take nuclear warheads at enormous distances. The project is classified by the 2011, but as we know, between development and experimentation and what is shown to public opinion there is a gap of about 20 / 25 years. The proof is given by the fact that the two new USAF prototypes have been plying the skies for a long time.
The first flock will be operational in the 2025. The B-1 and the B-52 will be withdrawn from service in the 2045.
(photo: US DoD / Northrop Grumman)
