Northrop Grumman said it’s “pleased” that the Government Accountability Office rejected Boeing’s protest of the Long-Range Strike Bomber award Tuesday and is “delighted to be resuming work” on the project. The Air Force was required to issue a stop-work order on the program on Nov. 6 of last year, when Boeing filed its GAO protest. Northrop was obliged to absorb the expense of keeping its design team together during the nearly three-month delay in the program, and the Air Force reduced its Fiscal 2017 budget request for LRS-B because it would not be able to execute the program as planned. However, in its fourth-quarter earnings report earlier this month, Northrop officials said work on the LRS-B will ramp up slowly during this fiscal year. The Air Force’s 2017 budget request calls for $12.1 billion to be spent on developing the LRS-B during the next five years. A first “usable asset” is supposed to be available circa 2024-2025, with initial operational capability in the late 2020s. The Air Force said early on that it would seek 80-100 LRS-Bs, but has now locked down on a program of 100 aircraft. Industry officials said it is unlikely that Northrop would be asked to stop work on the project again, unless Boeing presses and wins a case in federal claims court.
Contracts for F-35 airframes in Lot 18 and 19 should be signed in the spring, but an engine deal is still not in hand and could take months longer. The delays don't seem to be driven by anticipation of how the new Trump administration will influence the program.