What the new Long Range Strike Bomber is replacing

[Peter1469]

What the new Long Range Strike Bomber is replacing (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/10/28/what-the-new-long-range-strike-bomber-is-replacing/)


On Tuesday, the Pentagon awarded the contract for the new Long Range Strike Bomber (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/pentagon-to-award-long-range-strike-bomber-contract-tuesday/2015/10/27/7f299748-7cc3-11e5-beba-927fd8634498_story.html) to Northrop Grumman.

Northrop’s contract, valued at around $60 billion, beat out competitors Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

The B-1B Lancer “Bone”
The B-52H Stratofortress

[Crepitus]

The process seems kinda backwards. What happened to the days when everyone built a plane and the pentagon selected the one best suited to their needs?


Also, the B-1B is awesome to watch. Before the local AFB (McConnell) changed over to tankers there were a bunch of then flying around here. It was amazing to come across one crossing the highway at what looked like treetop level (probably quite a bit higher) out in the flint hills.

[Peter1469]

The process seems kinda backwards. What happened to the days when everyone built a plane and the pentagon selected the one best suited to their needs?




The modern planes are too expensive for that. And they are built with many of the concepts used in research and development contracts.