Boeing and Lockheed Martin have teamed to compete against Northrop Grumman for development and production if the US Air Force's Next Generation Bomber, planned to enter service in 2018.
The collaborative effort reunites the companies that developed and produced the F-22A Raptor. An FB-22 derivative of the stealth fighter was a candidate for the USAF's long-range strike requirement, but the air force has decided it wants a subsonic bomber.
Boeing was a subcontractor to Northrop on development and production of the B-2 bomber, while Lockheed teamed with Northrop for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System programme, which was cancelled in 2006 when the USAF decided it wanted a pursue a larger manned bomber.
The companies say they will perform collaborative research and development in areas such as advanced sensors and electronic warfare, network-enabled battle management, and virtual warfare simulation.
"The work performed by the Boeing/Lockheed Martin team is designed to help the air force establish capability-based roadmaps for technology maturation and date-certain timelines for the Next Generation Bomber programme," says Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Advanced Systems.
Technology availability to support an in-service date of 2018 is the driving factor behind the USAF's decision against supersonic or unmanned solutions to its long-range strike requirement. The NGB is likely to be substantially more stealthy and survivable than the B-2.
The NGB is expected to have a weapons payload of 6,500-13,000kg (14,000-28,000lb) and an unrefuelled radius of more than 3,700km (2,000nm). This places it between the USAF's Boeing F-15E strike fighter and the B-2, which has a 18,200kg payload and an unrefuelled range exceeding 11,100km.
Source: Flight International
