Science & Technology

What is the Pentagon's $55 billion plane ?

By T.K. Randall
March 3, 2015 ·  23 comments

A teaser image of the next-generation bomber. Image Credit: YouTube / Northrop Grumman It's one of the Air Force's most top secret projects and despite being hinted at in a recent Super Bowl commercial, the new US bomber continues to remain firmly under wraps.

Very little information about the project has been released to the public so far, but what we do know is that it will be a long range aircraft capable of striking anywhere on the planet. It can be flown manned or unmanned and the initial production run of up to one hundred planes will cost somewhere in the region of $55 billion.

With the level of technology being employed in the project however and given the Pentagon's tendency to underestimate how much things will cost there have been growing concerns that these new bombers are going to be significantly more expensive than the quoted estimate."I'm afraid they're heading down a path here where they have set themselves up politically to not succeed," said defense budget expert Todd Harrison. "They've come out with these cost estimates that are surprisingly low, and they seem to be doubling down on the idea that they can build this bomber cheaper than the last one."

The Air Force is expected to award a contract for the new aircraft within the next few months with the intention of having the planes operational by the mid-2020s.

Whether they will be able to do it within the $55 billion budget however remains to be seen.

Source: Washington Post | Comments (23)

Tags: Secret, Plane, Bomber, Pentagon