The U.S. Air Force is still sticking to its plan to build 100 B-21 Raider strategic bombers, but if it does need to procure more, it should be able to boost production without renegotiating the contract with Northrop Grumman, Air Force Materiel Command Chief Gen. Arnold Bunch told reporters recently.
“We’ve got the contract structured in a manner that we can go higher. … I’m not worried that we’ll have to go back and renegotiate that whole thing,” he said.
Bunch helped shape the B-21’s acquisition plan in his prior role as the service’s military deputy for acquisition, and confirmed that “right now, the program is staying on track.”
First flight is planned for 2021. The B-21 will carry the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb and later the Long-Range Standoff Weapon cruise missile loaded with the W80-4 warhead from the Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
Separately, Air Force Gen. John Hyten was sworn in on Thursday as the 11th vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a ceremony at the Pentagon. He succeeds former Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, who retired over the summer.
Navy Adm. Charles Richard was sworn in as his successor as commander of U.S. Strategic Command commander Nov. 18 at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
