LONDON—Northrop Grumman says, based on its recent experience in building the Air Force’s new bomber and major components of the F-35, it is ready to become a prime contractor on future fighter programs, even though its last such aircraft rolled off the production lines more than 30 years ago.
Northrop CEO Kathy Warden says in an interview that even though the company has not been the prime on a U.S. fighter program since the F-14, it has remained in the business through work such as building the center fuselage of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and the center fuselage and tail of the Boeing F/A-18.
“I don’t feel like the company has ever been out of the fighter market, and we are very familiar with it and bring many core capabilities on the F-35, including the stealth and aspects that will be highly relevant in the sixth-generation aircraft,” Warden says. “So that experience, certainly, is important.”
Northrop is expected to go up against the current prime on fifth-generation fighters, Lockheed, and Boeing for the Air Force’s and Navy’s upcoming and secretive Next Generation Air Dominance competition. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall recently made headlines telling lawmakers the NGAD has entered the engineering and manufacturing development phase, though he would not elaborate in a recent interview.
Warden says the company, despite not having the prime roles both Lockheed and Boeing enjoy, is ready to lead a new program based on its experience with the Air Force’s other secretive, next-generation aircraft: the B-21 bomber. The bomber, which will replace the company’s B-2, is expected to roll out by year-end, with a first flight next year.
“We also have prime aircraft development experience and we are a company that has designed many, many aircraft over the last 30 years. If you look at some of our peers, I would say we’ve actually designed and moved into development more new aircraft models than anyone—smaller quantities certainly than an F-35 and fighter, but the experience in doing the aircraft design and moving it successfully through development as we’re doing on the B-21 is highly relevant to the fighter market as well,” Warden says.
Tom Jones, the company’s vice president of aeronautics systems, tells Aviation Week the B-21, along with the new Sentinel program to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, has laid the groundwork in digital design and engineering for future programs.
“That’s a skill we’ve got pretty good,” Jones says. “We think having the right technical discriminators is key. And I’d say we think our discriminators are stealth, all aspects. . . . I think we’re the best at that. That’s something that’s been part of our legacy for a long time.”
With the Air Force looking at the potential “loyal wingman” as part of a family of systems for NGAD and the B-21, Northrop points to its experience in autonomy and command and control as something that gives the company a leg up as well.
Jones notes the company’s footprint at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, churns out the F-35 fuselage along with the B-21, showing advanced manufacturing for aircraft that are highly secretive and with demanding requirements. This shows the company, although it has a smaller overall output than its main competitors, has the capabilities for something as intensive as a future fighter program, he adds.
“The manufacturing requirement is to build something that is a step beyond what an F-35 is, and I think that’s something that we’re uniquely doing at the current point in time,” Jones explains. “So we’ve talked about digital transformation, critical technologies, advanced manufacturing . . . and we think from a weapon systems integration standpoint, we’re kind of plowing new ground with the Air Force on the B-21, how that program is being managed, the programmatic results that we’re getting.”
The last time Northrop vied in a new fighter competition was with its YF-23 demonstrator, which was a finalist in the Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter competition but lost to Lockheed’s F-22. While Boeing builds the F/A-18, it is based on a Northrop design, the YF-17, which lost in the Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter competition to the F-16. The design then was selected for the Naval Fighter Attack Experimental program, with Northrop allowing McDonnell Douglas to take the prime role because the Navy was concerned with Northrop’s lack of experience in developing carrier-based aircraft.
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