article_snippet: the Air Force plans to award a contract to build and develop the Long Range Strike Bomber to one of the industry's most powerful firms later this year and hopes to integrate the industry's most powerful firms into the fleet by the mid-2020s.
article_snippet: Competing for the prize are Northrop Grumman, the developer of Air Force current bomber, the B-2, and a partnership between aeronautic juggernauts Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
article_snippet: Before the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month, William LaPlante, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, suggested the Air Force will offer a "cost-plus" contract to the winning firm, meaning the government will take on the risk of any cost overrun.
article_snippet: Retired Air Force Lt.
article_snippet: The mysterious Long Range Strike Bomber program is the most expensive weapons system under the Air Force $17 billion research, development, test and evaluation funding request for 2016.
article_snippet: the Air Force requested $1.2 billion for The mysterious Long Range Strike Bomber program.
article_snippet: It's like $550 million per copy," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said this January.
article_snippet: But We put it in as a requirement -- to build 100 airplanes, it's going to cost $550 million (each).
article_snippet: If Air Force buys 100 planes by the mid-2030s, the research group estimates The Pentagon's Future Years Defense Program's total cost will be closer to $90 billion.
highlights_snippet: Air Force plans to award contract to build Long Range Strike Bomber later this year .
  
highlights_snippet: Air Force suggested Air Force will offer a "cost-plus" contract, meaning government takes on risk of any cost overrun .
  