B-2 Bomber

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO compared the Air Force's revised fiscal year (FY) 1991 budget request for B-2 aircraft with the congressionally approved FY 1990 B-2 procurement plan.

GAO found that: (1) after conducting a major aircraft review in April 1990, the Department of Defense (DOD) proposed reducing the B-2 aircraft production quantity from 127 to 70 and the request for procurement authorization in FY 1991 from 5 to 2 aircraft; (2) the revised estimated cost for 6 development and 70 production aircraft totalled $61.1 billion; (3) the Air Force reported that the $61.1-billion estimate did not fully reflect the costs associated with the DOD-proposed changes to the program and stated that the 10 production aircraft that Congress already authorized and funded would absorb a larger portion of overhead and fixed costs than previously intended; (4) the Air Force attributed the $1.4-billion cost increase to repeated reductions in the quantity of funded aircraft; (5) the Air Force further restructured its procurement plan, since Congress was not in favor of such options as using expired appropriations, reprogramming unobligated balances, and supplemental appropriations for covering the cost increase; (6) the Air Force's revised July 1990 budget request provided for the production of 8 instead of 10 aircraft, and planned to use the funds already authorized for the 2 eliminated aircraft to pay for the cost increase; (7) the Air Force planned to request procurement funds for those two eliminated aircraft in FY 1991; and (8) to preserve favorable subcontract prices, the Air Force requested funding for parts for aircraft it did not plan to request until FY 1993.