US Air Force: Cost Error Won’t Impact Bomber Planning: The US Air Force’s botching of a 10-year cost estimate for its next-generation bomber two years in a row has been corrected and will not impact the service’s planning for the program, according to US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
“The mistake was a regrettable error, but it has been corrected, so it is not going to affect us internally,” James said Monday during a press conference at the Pentagon.
James’ remarks come as the Air Force scrambles to do damage control after reports emerged of massive cost discrepancies in the service’s most recent cost estimates for the long-range strike bomber. Last year, the Air Force estimated costs for the LRS-B from fiscal years 2015 to 2024 at $33.1 billion. This year, the service pegged costs for fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2025, a similar 10-year period, at $58.2 billion.
The mistake occurred partially due to human error and partially due to “process error,” James said.
“A couple of our people got the figures wrong and the process of coordination was not fully carried out,” James said. “Coordination of course means other people are providing a check and balance and looking at the numbers, so that typically is how something like this would get caught.”
