New USAF bomber based on X-47B UCAV speculated
Data in Northrop Grumman’s recent earnings report indicate the company has a classified, sole-source contract to build a demonstrator for the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Bomber (NGB), Defense Technology International (DTI) reports in its latest issue. It reports that an unprecedented $2 billion jump in backlog in “restricted programs” listed in the company’s financial report confirms the existence of the contract.
The report says that in March that USAF budgets showed no funding for the NGB in fiscal years 2008-2010. But in 2007, Northrop Grumman CEO Ron Sugar noted that Integrated Systems, the company’s aircraft division, had made stride in “black” programs, and identified restricted projects as the company’s top new-business opportunity. Also last year, Northrop Grumman acquired Scaled Composites — a company which has proved that it can develop large prototype aircraft quickly.
According to the report, the Northrop Grumman prototype likely will be built on technology that already is under development for the Navy’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator, putting within reach the USAF’s goal of a 2018 initial operational capability date for the new bomber. DTI reports that industry and USAF sources have talked about a competition in 2010, leading to the start of systems development and demonstration in 2011, but says “it would be Northrop Grumman’s contest to lose.”
The DTI article, titled “Ultra Stealth: Is Northrop Grumman Building a Secret Bomber Prototype?” was written by Bill Sweetman, editor-in-chief of DTI. Sweetman, who joined DTI in April 2007 from Jane’s Information Group, has written nearly 40 books and hundreds of articles about aircraft technology and advanced weapons systems for the world’s leading aerospace publishers, as well as consumer magazines and newspapers. TIME magazine once described him as “the best authority on high-tech weaponry outside the Pentagon.”
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