A rendering of the B-21 Raider, the Air Force's newest bomber, built by Northrop Grumman. (U.S. Air Force)
Defense One: B-21 cost info to stay secret despite new Air Force leadership
AASHINGTON — Don’t hold your breath waiting for the contract value of the B-21 Raider to be revealed. While the U.S. Air Force’s top general reviews the bomber program every few months to see whether new details can be released, it will be “some time” before the service divulges more cost information, the Air Force undersecretary said Oct. 12.
Out of the Air Force’s top three acquisition priorities, the B-21 Raider is its most secretive, with only a few details disclosed to the public, such as the estimated price per aircraft and a list of the major contractors.
The service has taken a hard line against releasing the value of the development contract awarded to Northrop Grumman in 2015, with officials saying that doing so would give adversaries information that would allow them to extrapolate on the bomber’s design.
Read more ....
Update: US Air Force Official Flips Position, Opposes Disclosing B-21 Raider Costs (Sputnik).
WNU Editor: Everyone knows that the B-21 program is happening .... so why the secrecy on its costs? All that I can say is that the U.S. Air Force has a lousy history when it comes to procurement .... and they have certainly not won anyone's trust when it comes to cost. But for the moment .... the Pentagon, White House, and the Congress are one on this program, and there will be no release on what this program has cost right now.
2 comments:
The US military/National Security State is a "sacred' order and mere mortals in the civilian world must not be allowed to question it.
Thus it is for the best. Trust them. Without question.
What could possibly go wrong. I can't think of a thing.
Why is it secret? So let's just for fun say that each costs 5b-10n. Not impossible. Why would that be secret? Because it would - given the procurement budget - make it clear that they can only order say 20 of those. And that allows Russians and Chinese to counter act our numbers. Cool yeah I believe that. BUT the problem is not the procurement. .but that we've got thousands of human spies in our countries in key positions, while we rely almost entirely on technology for spying - and have little to show for at that. Or do you think it's just coincidence that whatever we invent the Chinese have one year later? And it looks the same. ..even the names are sometimes similar sounding. Meanwhile when you go to shanghai you look like a peasant because they made billions and billions and billions of us Lol
What we need - instead of price secrecy that undermines or democracy actually - would be a sweep of the spies. Too many anti terror operations. Too few counter intelligence ops. The Chinese spies cost us hundreds and hundreds of billions every year and on top major security issues because they sell off the stolen secrets from what they don't need. But yeah. Keep the price secret. That's smart. Good thinking. Strategic big thoughts. Big players. Haha
Post a Comment