Production Costs Mount for B-2 Stealth Bomber : Defense: Congressional study says problems, delays may push price past $44-billion ceiling.
Production of the B-2 Stealth bomber may exceed a government-imposed cost ceiling of $44 billion, according to a congressional study.
Problems in the bat-winged airplane’s radar-evading technology, its own terrain-avoidance radar and its computer software, as well as testing delays, threaten to raise production costs for the 20 bombers ordered by the Pentagon, the report concludes.
The report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is dated Sept. 8 but has not yet been released. Defense Week, a newspaper that covers defense issues, reported the GAO’s findings in Monday’s issue.
“We believe there is uncertainty about whether the Air Force will be able to complete B-2 acquisition within the cost limitation,” the GAO concluded. “Significant development, testing, production and modification efforts are required before the 20 operational aircraft meet their final performance configuration.”
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The Defense Department’s strategic and space systems director, George Schneiter, responded that while there remains “significant work” on the B-2 program, close oversight “will ensure that the B-2 program is completed within the congressionally mandated cost ceiling.”
News of the report comes a day before the Senate was expected to pass and send to President Clinton the 1995 defense authorization bill that contains $125 million to study the nation’s future bomber needs. Supporters of the B-2 fought for inclusion of that money to keep open the possibility of buying more B-2s than the 20 already on order.
Congress last year voted to cap the B-2 program at 20 aircraft and mandated a cost ceiling of $44.4 billion. To date, the Air Force has accepted two production models of the B-2.
The exotic shape of the B-2--it looks like a flying wing--and its skin of radar-evading composite materials, along with the development of this technology, contributed to the high price of the bomber, which is built in Southern California by Northrop Grumman Corp.
A key area of concern is the so-called radar cross-section, or RCS, of the B-2. The cross-section measures the degree to which the B-2 is at all detectable by radar.
The GAO noted that relatively minor changes in the bomber’s configuration can affect its radar profile, raising concerns about whether Northrop Grumman can produce a consistent product.
Other problems include glitches in the airplane’s radar system that enables it to fly low even in mountainous areas, and with the plane’s defensive systems.
The high cost of the B-2 has forced the Air Force and the contractor to test the aircraft while production goes on, instead of beforehand. Thus, as testing turns up new problems, the cost of going back and fixing the problems on bombers already being assembled is considerable, the GAO warned.
