Northrop Grumman is taking a financial hit on its B-21 Raider stealth bomber

• Northrop Grumman posted a drop in profits in the first quarter of 2025.
• It said higher manufacturing costs for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber were to blame.
• The plane is the first new stealth bomber designed for the US military in 30 years.

Northrop Grumman posted a drop in first-quarter profits, blaming higher manufacturing costs for its B-21 Raider stealth bomber.

Sales totalled $9.5 billion in the quarter, down 7% compared to last year, the company said. Reuters reported that the figure was below the analysts' average expectation of about $9.92 billion.

The company said it recorded a pre-tax loss of $477 million on its B-21 programs, and that investments to boost future B-21 production and higher-than-expected material costs were to blame.

In a conference call, Kathy Warden, Northrop Grumman's president, said the drop was "largely relating to higher manufacturing costs" for the B-21, per The War Zone.

She said it was "primarily resulting from a process change we made to enable a higher production rate, as well as increases in the projected material cost."

She said Northrop Grumman had "underestimated the amount of consumption of both materials as well as the price increase that we are seeing."

The B-21 is the first new stealth bomber to be developed for the US Air Force in 30 years, and took its maiden flight in November 2023.

Business Insider reported last year that the plane is expected to form the backbone of the US bomber fleet, and that its state-of-the-art stealth capabilities are designed to evade sophisticated air defense systems.

A low rate initial production contract — a contract for the manufacture of a small batch of B-21s for testing — was signed in January 2024.

Gen. Anthony J Cotton, head of US Strategic Command, said last month that he wanted to see the Air Force boost the number of B-21s it plans to deploy from 100 to around 145.

He said the plane's initial low production rate was set "when the geopolitical environment was a little bit different than what we face today."

The B-21 is expected to enter service by the end of the decade.

In the conference call, Warden said that the company was taking a financial hit now in order to be in a position to ramp up production of the plane going forward.