Northrop Grumman takes B-21 charge of $1.17B

Northrop Grumman said: “In 2015, the U.S. Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman the B-21 contract, which includes a base contract for engineering, manufacturing, and design and five low-rate initial production, or LRIP, options. The EMD phase of the program is largely cost type and began at contract award. The LRIP options are largely fixed price and are expected to be awarded and executed through approximately the end of the decade. During the fourth quarter of 2023, the B-21 program entered flight testing and the company received an award for the first LRIP lot. We previously disclosed it was reasonably possible one or more of the LRIP options could be performed at a loss principally due to the company’s estimate of the impact macroeconomic factors may have on our cost to complete the LRIP options, as well as ongoing discussions with our suppliers and our customer. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we again reviewed our estimated profitability on the LRIP phase of the program, and we now believe it is probable each of the first five LRIP lots will be performed at a loss. The loss is largely driven by a change in our assumptions regarding funding to mitigate the impact of macroeconomic disruptions on the LRIP phase of the program and higher projected manufacturing costs that reflect recent supplier negotiations and our experience in completing the first aircraft.”