What You Need to Know: The U.S. Air Force’s B-21 Raider program, led by Northrop Grumman, is seeing a surprising reduction in initial procurement costs. Budgeted at $13.8 billion for fiscal year 2025, this reflects a nearly 28% decrease from earlier estimates.

-This cost efficiency benefits the Air Force, allowing more Raiders to be built during low-rate initial production (LRIP), and alleviates potential early losses for Northrop Grumman.

-This progress has been made possible through streamlined production processes and cost management aligned with the Nunn-McCurdy Act, aiming to prevent budget overruns on major defense programs. The Raider is on track for timely, budget-friendly production.

The future backbone of the United States Air Force's bomber fleet is going to be terrifyingly expensive – so much so that it should send chills down the spine of taxpayers. Yet, according to a report from Aviation Week, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider may be "less expensive," at least in the initial lots. The aerospace trade magazine noted that the air service had anticipated in fiscal year 2023 (FY23) that the first five lots of the B-21 would cost around $19.1 billion.

However, for fiscal year 2025 (FY25) – which........

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