The Air Force has selected Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., as a maintenance and sustainment hub for the B-21 next-generation bomber, which could carry the revamped B61-12 gravity bomb about to be modernized by the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the future Long Range Standoff Weapon nuclear-tipped cruise missile.
The Air Force announced the decision in a press release last week.
The service’s Sustainment Center and its Air Logistics Complex are located at Tinker, in the home state of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). Robins Air Force Base in Georgia and Hill Air Force Base in Utah will support Tinker with parts maintenance and other logistics efforts.
Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., will serve as the B-21’s combined test force location. The B-21 is currently in the engineering, manufacturing and development phase at prime contractor Northrop Grumman, with deliveries expected in the mid-2020s.
This story first appeared in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing‘s affiliate publication, Defense Daily.
