Mary-Louise Hoffman
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that Northrop Grumman is manufacturing five test articles of the branch’s Long Range Strike Bomber aircraft at a government-owned contractor-operated factory in Palmdale, California, The Drive reported Monday.
He mentioned the ongoing efforts at Air Force Plant 42 to build B-21 Raider planes in his speech Monday at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
Northrop won the LRSB engineering and manufacturing development contract in October 2015.
The service released an updated artist’s rendition of the B-21 taking off from Edwards AF Base in California and officials previously said they expect the first aircraft to roll out in early 2022.
BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Collins Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, Spirit Aerosystems and Janicki Industries are part of Northrop’s contract team.
