Northrop CEO Links B-21 ISR Capability To Fleet Growth

Intelligence-gathering and surveillance capabilities may be the deciding factor in a future decision over whether to increase the size of the Northrop Grumman B-21 fleet beyond 100 aircraft, CEO Kathy Warden said on Nov. 12.

The U.S. Air Force is buying the first 100 B-21s to fill the traditional role of a stealth bomber for conventional and nuclear munitions, Warden said, addressing the Baird Global Industrials conference.

But the powerful sensors and organic intelligence-gathering ability of the B-21 could also drive demand for additional versions of the aircraft to preform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, Warden said.

“It has tremendous sensor capability to be an ISR aircraft. Because of its penetrating nature, it can clear the way for less stealthy platforms,” she said. “And so it really can play more roles than just delivering a bomb for effect as the B-2 just did. But the B-2 really was designed to be just a bomber.”

Air Force officials have debated the possibility of adding more B-21s to the program of record.

“As the Air Force begins to think about force structure and what they need, the idea of taking an aircraft like the B-21 that is now well through development and into production ... and is relatively affordable ... they’re looking to leverage that,” Warden said.

The Air Force requirement stood at precisely 100 B-21s when the contract was awarded to Northrop in 2015. But the service later modified the minimum to “at least 100” B-21s.

Some top Air Force leaders, including Gen. Thomas Bussiere, the former head of Global Strike Command, have called for buying 145 B-21s, which would fly alongside 75 reengined Boeing B-52Js for several decades. But others have urged patience. When he was Air Force Chief of Staff, former Gen. David Allvin told lawmakers in April 2024 there was no need to make a decision on the final number until the mid-2030s, when Northrop delivers the last aircraft in the original program of record.

But Warden expects the Air Force’s internal debate to flare up in the next few years. The budget reconciliation act passed last summer added $4.5 billion to accelerate the production system for the bomber. Northrop has flown two flight-test versions of the B-21 more than a decade after contract award.

“We need to get into production and demonstrate the ramp on production,” Warden said. “And then we think this debate about how many are needed will come back to the fore.”