B-21 passes Preliminary Design Review

[F-22Raptor]

The Air Force confirmed Wednesday it "recently" completed a preliminary design review of the largely classified B-21 bomber program.

Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson told the House Armed Services Committee during a March 8 hearing the Northrop Grumman-led program is "making real great progress" and he and the service chief and secretary receive regular updates.

"We're pleased with where it's headed," he said, noting that the program is meeting cost and schedule goals.

https://insidedefense.com/insider/b-21-passes-pdr

 

[Penguin]

The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to develop and produce the B-21 Raider in October 2015. The company beat out a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team, a decision that was sustained even after the losing competitors filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. The service has not disclosed the total value of the contract awarded to Northrop, but it estimates the aircraft will cost about $550 million per copy. Last year, Randall Walden, who heads the office charged with acquiring the Raider, said the company is on track to beat that number. The first aircraft are projected to go into service in the mid 2020s.
http://www.defensenews.com/articles/b-21-raider-covertly-completes-preliminary-design-review

The Preliminary Design Review (PDR) is a technical assessment that establishes the physically Allocated Baseline of a system to ensure a system in operationally effective. This review assesses the allocated design documented in subsystem product specifications for each configuration item in the system and ensures that each function, in the Functional Baseline, has been allocated to one or more system configuration items. The PDR establishes the allocated baseline (hardware, software, human/support systems) and underlying architectures to ensure that the system under review has a reasonable expectation of satisfying the requirements within the currently allocated budget and schedule.

http://www.acqnotes.com/acqnote/acquisitions/preliminary-design-review