Lockheed Martin has proposed giving the Air Force a fixed price to pursue the reliability enhancement and re-engining program for a finite number of C-5 airlifters. Roxana Tiron of The Hill reports that Lockheed on May 17 offered to RERP 108 C-5s for a total of $11.6 billion, which is about $3 billion shy of the projected nearly $15 billion. Lockheed officials are trying to counter the recent House Armed Services Committee OK for the Air Force to retire the older C-5As in favor of purchasing more Boeing C-17s.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
