The Boeing Company (BA), Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC): The New $55 Billion Stealth Bomber Faces a Dangerous Future

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Photo: United States Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Air Force has requested $400 million for LRSB acquisition strategy in FY2014. If it’s approved, that will be great news for The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT), and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), as a bomber contract promises to be incredibly profitable. If it’s not, it could affect Air Force readiness. Right now the Air Force bomber fleet consists of 76 B-52s, 61 B-1s, and 20 B-2s. The B-2s, often called the Bat Wing or Flying Wing, are the newest, but are also the most costly at $3 billion per unit and a cost of $135,000 per flight hour. In fact, it’s the grandpa of the group, the B-52s, that the Air Force mainly relies on.

But the B-52s can keep flying forever, and the Air Force knows it. That’s why it wants new bombers by 2020. Will the Air Force get this need met? Only time will tell, but as this story develops, I’ll be sure to bring you updates.

The article The New $55 Billion Stealth Bomber Faces a Dangerous Future originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Katie Spence.

Fool contributor Katie Spence owns shares of Northrop Grumman. Follow her on Twitter: @TMFKSpence. The Motley Fool owns shares of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

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