Northrop Grumman has dropped out of the competition to win the contract for U.S. Air Force’s next-generation fighter as a prime contractor, but achieved a key milestone on the B-21 Raider’s lengthy path to a first flight event.
The remarks by Northrop CEO Kathy Warden on a second-quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts leaves Boeing and Lockheed Martin as the likely remaining bidders vying to build the Air Force fighter at the heart of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The new aircraft is scheduled to begin replacing the F-22 Raptor in the early 2030s.
“We have notified the U.S. Air Force that we’re not planning to respond to the NGAD [request for proposals] as a prime,” Warden said.
Warden instead left the door open for Northrop’s aeronautics division to play a role as a subcontractor to either Boeing or Lockheed for the Air Force’s F-X next generation fighter.
Northrop also could continue competing for the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX fighter development contract, which intends to replace the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet starting around 2040.
Northrop designed the YF-17 prototype that evolved into the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A/B in the mid-1970s, but dropped out of the fighter market after its YF-23 prototype lost the Advanced Tactical Fighter contract to the Lockheed YF-22 in 1991.
The Air Force announced in May that it had released a request for proposals for the F-X fighter to begin a typically yearlong source selection process.
In 2022, Boeing announced the opening of facilities dedicated to building new air dominance aircraft in Mesa, Arizona; and St. Louis. Lockheed also opened a 215,000-ft.2 production hangar on the Skunk Works campus in Palmdale, California, in August 2021. Northrop had not disclosed any similar capital expenditures related to the NGAD program.
Air Force officials had previously said that at least one flight demonstrator for the NGAD program had flown before September 2021. The singular or multiple demonstrators were likely funded by a joint DARPA, Air Force and U.S. Navy program launched in fiscal 2016 called the Aerospace Innovation Initiative.
In August 2022, the Air Force indirectly confirmed that Northrop was competing at the prime contractor level for the F-X fighter contract. The Air Force had awarded study contracts to Boeing, Lockheed and Northrop, which examined how to integrate a new category of adaptive engines into next-generation fighters.
Although Northrop has withdrawn from the Air Force’s fighter competition, the company remains active in developing concepts for a new class of Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Northrop has publicly revealed concepts such as the SG-2 with a cranked-kit design and the Model 437, an uncrewed version of the Model 401 Sierra.
Northrop’s aeronautics division, meanwhile, is getting closer to first flight of the B-21. The stealth bomber, rolled out on Dec. 2, achieved a power-on milestone during the second quarter, according to Northrop’s second-quarter earnings presentation. Air Force officials tentatively expect the B-21 to complete a first flight by year’s end.
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