Randall Walden, director and program executive officer of the U.S. Air Force’s rapid capabilities office, has said the value of the engineering, manufacturing and development contract for the B-21 Long-Range Strike Bomber aircraft should remain classified, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.
Richard Whittle writes Walden said at a Mitchell Institute event that the disclosure of the EMD contract value would be “too insightful for the adversaries to get a sense of what they can do (and) what the U.S. can do in building that next generation bomber.â€
“Releasing that, releasing other things that may be more insightful to our adversaries, I don’t think helps the taxpayer… the warfighter, because all we’re doing is, we’re putting them at risk,â€Â he added.
Vivienne Machi also reports for National Defense that Walden told event attendees in Virginia that the EMD phase of the B-21 bomber program will cost approximately $23.5 billion based on an independent cost estimate.
He also said that the service branch expects to achieve initial operational capability for the B-21 aircraft by 2030 and continue fleet deployment operations through 2060.
Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force vice chief of staff, said during a Senate panel hearing to discuss his nomination for the chief of staff post that he agreed with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) that the service branch should reveal the value of the B-21 development contract.
Northrop Grumman received a contract in October to develop the B-21 plane.
