Bomber Release Strategy

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

The B-2 bomber program was classified “too long” before Congress and the public were allowed to know about it, and when the information was revealed, “there was sticker shock” that undermined support for the project, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Monday. Speaking at a Pentagon press briefing, James said she moved to release select information about the bomber’s industrial team and cost to avoid repeating mistakes on previous projects terminated prematurely and “in the spirit of more transparency.” James said cost will be controlled on the bomber by restraining programmatic changes. On the B-2, where “everything was new,” the contract had to adapt to the discoveries inherent in inventing large-scale stealth. “The dollars kept changing” on the B-2, and that will be avoided on the B-21, she said.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org