Both teams had drawn up plans for the bomber under classified contracts in the Pentagon's so-called black budget.


Military officials have said the new bomber would eventually be equipped to fly nuclear weapons. The plane may also someday have the capability to fly as a drone.


The Pentagon says it needs the new warplane to replace its aging fleet of B-1 bombers, which were designed in the 1970s, and even older B-52s.


"Today, it's vital to innovate and reinvest in the people, strategies and technologies that will allow America's military to be dominant in the second aerospace century," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday as the contract was announced.


The contract has two parts. In the first phase, Northrop will receive more than $20 billion to develop the bomber.


The company would then be paid $550 million to build each plane — an award that could reach $60 billion.


Critics say the cost of the contract is bound to skyrocket, similar to what happened when Northrop built the B-2 bomber in the 1980s.


That contract was so far over budget that the Pentagon decided to build just 21 of the 132 aircraft it had originally planned. The average cost of each B-2 soared to more than $2 billion.


Many experts also question why the Pentagon even needs a new bomber. The Air Force is already spending billions of dollars to modernize its current fleet of 150 bombers, readying them for the next 25 to 50 years.


But such skepticism is hard to find in the Antelope Valley, which still hasn't fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis.


Both Palmdale and the neighboring city of Lancaster have suffered in the last couple of decades as aerospace firms moved jobs out of California to states where wages and other costs are lower.


Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the county currently has about 38,000 aerospace jobs — about 8% of the nation's total.


That is down 70% from 25 years ago when the county had 130,000 aerospace jobs, or more than 15% of the nation's total.


The bomber contract could increase jobs across Southern California, Kleinhenz said, especially benefiting dozens of smaller companies that supply the major aerospace firms.


Said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris of the contract announcement: "This is probably the best news Lancaster has received since I've been here. It will be restorative."


melody.petersen@latimes.com