Mary-Louise Hoffman
U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has said the military service could move the timeline for the expected awarding of the Long Range Strike Bomber contract from August to September, Reuters reported Wednesday.
“The main thing is to do it right,” James told Reuters correspondent Andrea Shalal.
William LaPlante, Air Force acquisition head, has told reporters that he wants to ensure that the branch’s LRS-B procurement decision is justified.
He also said he believes that it is more important that the program “gets underway at the right time,” according to a separate report by Air Force Times’ Brian Everstine.
The military service wants to replace its existing B-52 planes with up to 100 LRS-Bs and expects to spend approximately $500 million per bomber.
Northrop Grumman is competing with the team of Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the LRS-B program.
