Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) says the Air Force B-21 stealth bomber program is “bucking” the trend of major Defense Department acquisition programs that suffer lengthy schedule delays and large cost overruns.
In a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing last week for Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has been nominated to be deputy defense secretary, Rounds says “I’ve been impressed with the progress and the speed of the current B-21 program. I understand a large part of the program’s efficiency is that it is not in the normal defense acquisitions pipeline.” He adds that “They’ve done some things in the B-21 that have kept them on time and on target and I’ve been very pleased with the progress we’ve seen but it’s an innovative approach which is a little bit different for the Department of Defense.”
Shanahan says he doesn’t have any background on the program in response to a query by Rounds whether B-21 best practices could be applied to other acquisition programs. Northrop Grumman is developing the B-21.
