The U.S. Air Force’s newest bomber is poised to emerge from the shadows of the Pentagon’s so-called black budget.
As soon as this month, the government will pick Northrop Grumman Corp. or a Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. team to lead the Long-Range Strike Bomber program. It’s a decision that will expose the multibillion-dollar program to Washington adversaries long before the jet sees combat in the 2020s or beyond.
Black budget projects are used to protect classified and secret government programs, such as advanced weapons systems and intelligence operations, from public disclosure. Once the award is made public, some of the details will also emerge, though not all.
“The budget environment could make this a unique debate in Congress because the overall budget looks very uncertain,” said Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “There will be a lot of questions about funding and how the priority of the LRS-B program is placed above others.”
READ: Bloomberg