USAF, Northrup Unveil Next-Generation Bomber

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: StratosFear

Contract restructuring. They went to cost plus instead. The decision to change it wasn't made until a couple weeks ago.

I.e. the "campaign contribution" was just deposited in some congressdroid's "think" tank.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Somewhere floating around I have a great picture of a B-2 on the taxiway with a Japan Airlines 747 right behind it.

I would have had the best picture of one if my phone would have been fast enough to give good quality. One did a practice radar-commercial air traffic avoidance run about 100 feet off the deck following the winding river my parents live on. They were so low I waved at them as they were banking to turn and easily seen me. Would have made big money off that picture lol. They probably would have got hell for what they did (from their higher ups)but who is going to complain when they did not brake glass and gave everyone such an awesome sight to see? Never mind these guys pretty much have the rule of the skies to do what they want to avoid traffic.

They literately went right under the planes big commercial planes coming into Tampa International and when they got out of the lanes to the east they turned north and that bird went completely quiet just like it had been as it was coming towards me. I heard a slight whine from its engines and looked up and to my right, it was on me in no time. When it went by it sounded just like a B-52 lol. Loud was an understatement but so dam cool to see like that.

I cant wait to see the new bomber, just pray the idiots in Congress do not kill the project before ALL of them are purchased unlike the B-2. If they would have bought the full quantity of bombers that was originally intended they would not have been a billion a piece, they have pulled the same stunt with the F-22.

All I know is that it better be a great oh wtf is that aircraft because the B-2 and the B-1 were both Castrated do to pure stupidity.


I really wish they would kill the F35. Only Lockheed would make a plane that overheats on the runway in midwest temps and fix it by painting the military fuel trucks white. Morons, what are they going to do in the middle east, Pack the fuel trucks in Ice? If Lockheed gets the bomber contract we are screwed. Northrop Grumman is the only company that has built more than few GREAT planes, that do not need major fixes just so they can go to war.

Dump the F-35 and build the formerly proposed Super Tomcat, that would be a bad ass plane. That is what we should have got for Billions of OUR dollars. Just for those who have never heard about what they could have built with all that money, instead got a turd that does nothing good.

The Attack Super Tomcat 21 (ASF-14) would be a new build, highly updated version of the legendary F-14. A true “Super Tomcat” in every sense of the word, the machine would boast a large increase in internal fuel (over it’s already massive capacity) via thicker wings and larger over intake “shoulders.” The jet would have an all new digital flight control system with larger surfaces, dropping its minimum speed by upwards of 20kts. It would utilize the more powerful GE-F110-129 afterburning turbofan for it’s powerplant, allowing sustained supercruise of mach 1.3+. Airframe enhacements would allow the jet to reach over 77 degrees of sustained AoA but thrust vectoring was also to be part of the new design, which would have made it the most maneuverable US fighter ever. There was also talk about the airframe being able to later receive the F-22s F-119 or F-120 derivative motors, resulting in a predicted supercruise of mach 2.0 or more!

aviationintel.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Northernhollow

There are rumors that a canceled program will go white soon. No word on when though.

Oh why give us a major buzzkill lol. Let alone have the Chicoms or Russians make it work.

a reply to: mbkennel

They didn't have to. It was almost a default win.

Thought you would find this amusing...www.popsci.com...

Seems like the contract for the new LRS-B will be decided in the next few months according to the article in the link. According to Forbes, if the contract is given to lockheed/boeing , then rivals grumman may be out of the fighter aircraft buisness if i am reading it right.

www.forbes.com...

a reply to: nelloh62

Yeah that's all pretty much correct. Except the part of it being a "dead heat" race. Grumman may be able to sustain itself building trainers, radars and surveillance aircraft and the like until the F/A-xx and F-X roll around, but yes it would be unlikely. This would make Lockheed and Boeing the only builders of combat aircraft.

originally posted by: aholic
a reply to: nelloh62

Yeah that's all pretty much correct. Except the part of it being a "dead heat" race. Grumman may be able to sustain itself building trainers, radars and surveillance aircraft and the like until the F/A-xx and F-X roll around, but yes it would be unlikely. This would make Lockheed and Boeing the only builders of combat aircraft.

To be honest, I have not been keeping up to date with this thread. So, is there a clear leader out of those two ?

a reply to: aholic

Damn, I click baited haha

a reply to: nelloh62

It's feeling like Grumman is having some major difficulties. Most of them have been ironed out and they are back competing as I type but it might not be enough.

a reply to: aholic

If NG losses they will be without a major contract and they will take a hit to their bottom line. If the hit is large enough they might start looking awfully appetizing to Boeing, a monster company that could use NG's defense sectors to keep competitive with LM.
Boeing's annual income portfolio is larger than LM's and NG's combined and there have been rumbling within Boeing of getting out of the defense aircraft biz all together. The only jet it's got in the fighter game right now is the F-18 and sales have been somewhat stagnating as of late. The KC-46 and P-8 will keep them going for a while but are really commercial aircraft mod'd to mil. specs. NG's aircraft sector would give Boeing some serious clout to compete with LM on any future defense program. This is also something the DoD needs as well to keep LM from becoming a defense monopoly and keeping projected contract costs down.

Boeing has always been torn between military and commercial avenues..With the Dreamliner dramas taking a hit and with the A380 competing with the 747 family military assets will suffer.As noted by someone here Boeing are leading with materials and do have a lot of history with larger airframes.

I personally don't count Northrup out completely in the long haul. They have the Rq-180. They may have another aircraft (heavy, heavy speculation on my part) flying right now that does tactical strikes like the F-111. That should keep them alive a while longer. Meanwhile, they are working on drones to be competitive. So maybe they haven't hit the end of the road. Plus there is still a need for a VVVLO bomber to go where the LRS-B cant if absolute stealth is required. Maybe they might get a contract to make two or three of those bombers if the need truly exists and they still have the goods to produce something of that caliber.

Here's what keeps me wondering. The Northrup bird was unfit to fly or something like that so they gave the contract over to Lockheed and Boeing. Here's what bothers me about that. What was Northrup trying to build that they couldn't get it to fly? I have a hard time believing that Northrup can't build a plane that flies. They are good at making planes. SO that tells me whatever it is that went wrong with the Northrup entry was either really advanced and they just couldn't get it to work ...yet. Or that they have really fallen that far behind and can't even build a plane that flies reliably.

I dunno, Any thoughts?

a reply to: BASSPLYR

The aircraft itself was fine. They tried some new things, that they had tried before, that turned out, both times, to be harder than they thought. They thought they had fixed it after the first time, but it proved not to be the case over time as they flew their new aircraft.

a reply to: Zaphod58

So we eagerly await the Lockheed/Boeing bird then ?

a reply to: nelloh62

Pretty much. They announce the award this summer, and roll out the aircraft this fall.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I must admit Zaph, like everyone else, I am bursting to see it considering all the hype it's getting. It's gotta be pretty cool eh

a reply to: Zaphod58

Sounds like time to buy some stock.

a reply to: nelloh62

From what I have heard about both, they're both utterly gorgeous aircraft. I already have a spot picked out near Plant 42 for later this year.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Stuff they tried on the original B2a and then they had to remove and go with the B2b? Whatever it was they had in it, it must have been some next level stuff, cause I've always heard that it was a damned shame the B2's weren't produced with the original "Stuff" they had on/in it and that it was reduced to the B2b. Also not sure if it was called B2a and B2b that's just what I'm calling them cause I don't know any better.

Either way that's very interesting.

So either Northrup still has some spark left and some fantastic ideas that are just real hard to pull off but will be worth it in the end. Or they are chasing a fools dream with same said tech and the AF has given up on them.

I think I know what it is they are trying to get work but have had mixed results with given Northrups history of interests and patents.