A B-21 “Raider” stealth bomber prototype conducts an aerial refueling test beneath a KC-135 Stratotanker. The 600-mph jet has a range of 6,000 miles and a 20,000-pound payload capacity. “Significant” parts of the plane will be manufactured at a new Northrop Grumman facility in Layton. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Before showing its metaphorical guts in the skies around the world, the U.S. Air Force’s B-21 “Raider” aircraft will get some of its literal guts in Layton.
Components for the sixth-generation stealth aircraft will be produced at Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility at East Gate 3, just east of Hill Air Force Base. Company executives, employees and government dignitaries gathered recently to mark the latest building in the B-21 program, bringing the company’s East Gate 3 manufacturing space to about 845,000 square feet and a capacity for 1,500 employees by 2032.
“East Gate 3 is an investment in this mission, an investment in our workforce and, of course, an investment in the state of Utah. Our highly skilled workforce continues to grow here in the state, and Utah will be critical along our path to delivering this capability at speed,” Chris Adams, Northrop Grumman’s B-21 vice president and program manager, told a crowd gathered for the milestone ceremony.
The B-21 “Raider” stealth aircraft is being developed by Northrop Grumman, and components will be made at the company’s facilities at East Gate 3 in Layton. (Courtesy Northrop Grumman)
“The B-21 Raider will define U.S. strategic air power for years to come, and we’re proud to build key components of that system right here,”
More than 8,000 industry and Air Force personnel are working to design, build, test and deliver the aircraft. The figure includes more than 400 suppliers across 40 states. Final assembly will take place at the company’s facility in Palmdale, California, and other manufacturing operations across the nation, with hopes that the first B-21 will arrive at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota next year.
“This building represents a continuation and Northrop Grumman’s commitment to the B-21 program. … It is a phenomenal machine, and it is a phenomenal program,” said Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems.
“We do need platforms like the B-21, and I believe it will be the predominant deterrent weapons system of the future,” he said. “This is what is going to help keep peace and stability in the world, the platform that we’re building here.”
Northrop Grumman hasn’t confirmed exactly what parts of the B-21 will be manufactured at the East Gate site, but the B-21 Raider is one of the largest current U.S. Air Force programs.
This building is part of Northrop Grumman’s 845,000-square-foot manufacturing campus at East Gate 3 in Layton, where parts for the B-21 “Raider” stealth aircraft will be manufactured. (Courtesy Northrop Grumman)
The company’s manufacturing operations in Clearfield and Layton have reached more than 2 million square feet, part of the company’s overall manufacturing footprint of over 30 million square feet nationally — the equivalent of more than 500 football fields.
Utah’s largest defense contractor, Northrop Grumman directly employs over 11,000 Utahns, has over 600 suppliers in the state, and, according to a recent study, supports more than 46,000 jobs across the state.
The company generates over $12.4 billion in economic impact in Utah, “which I think is a pretty big impact,” Jones said. “And with buildings like this and other plants in the future coming online, that presence and that impact in the state of Utah is only going to grow.”
In a news release, Kathy Warden, chair, chief executive officer and president of Northrop Grumman, said the strong performance of the B-21 program “has our Northrop Grumman and Air Force team ready to accelerate production of this game-changing capability for our nation. Northrop Grumman has invested more than $5 billion in digital engineering and manufacturing infrastructure, and we are ready to produce B-21 faster.”
Utah Senate President Stuart Adams told the crowd that Northrop Grumman is one of the country’s most important defense contractors “and Northern Utah has become probably one of the biggest defense contracting hubs in America.”
Adams noted military conflicts occurring in Ukraine, Israel and Iran. “There’s never been, in my opinion, a more important time for military superiority in the free world than today, and that’s what we’re doing here,” he said.
To address those threats, Utah has “the best of the best engineers, technicians, manufacturing professionals, skilled workers, who come through this facility and build the technology to keep America safe,” he said.
The B-21 “Raider” stealth aircraft is being developed by Northrop Grumman, and components will be made at the company’s facilities at East Gate 3 in Layton. (Courtesy Northrop Grumman)
Layton Mayor Joy Petro said the city has been looking forward to the East Gate 3 milestone for several years. “It’s not just simply a development,” she said of the business park, “but it’s really Layton’s future.”
She lauded Northrop Grumman bringing to the area high-quality jobs, advanced manufacturing, technology and new opportunities, “and the company has become a part of our community and an important partner in the continued growth in Northern Utah’s aerospace and defense sectors.”
“Keep it going,” Petro told the company. “We need you. America needs you.”
The facility in the East Gate business park is adjacent to Hill Air Force Base, which already serves as a major hub for Air Force logistics, aerospace maintenance and repair via its Ogden Air Logistics Complex. East Gate 3 is set to reach full operations by 2032, the company said.
Northrop Grumman’s Layton facility specializes in the manufacture of “sixth-generation” aircraft, with the B-21 as its principal program. Neighboring company sites in Clearfield produce composite structures and provide sustainment services for military and commercial aircraft.
Clearfield supports the B-21 as well as the F-35 Lightning II, Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and Airbus A350 XWB programs. The proximity of the two sites gives Northrop Grumman a concentrated manufacturing presence in Northern Utah.
Designated as the first sixth-generation bomber, the B-21 is now nearly a decade in the making. Northrop Grumman first attained the contract for the next-generation bomber in 2015, and the company then quickly assembled a nationwide team to build it. The Raider — named for the 80 men who participated in the 1942 “Doolittle Raid” on Tokyo — was developed using the aerospace firm’s pioneering digital engineering practices and advanced manufacturing techniques.
In late 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense approved the B-21’s move into low-rate initial production (LRIP), and Northrop Grumman was provided a Pentagon LRIP contract in January 2024. The LRIP phase is currently on track to deliver five “lots” of the aircraft and will run through the end of this decade.
The Air Force has set a goal of acquiring a fleet of at least 100 B-21s, but some analysts have called for that number to be double that, according to a report on the defense watchdog website The National Interest.
Northrop Grumman has built three B-21 prototypes, and development is well underway at the company’s highly classified manufacturing facility near Palmdale.
The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman the contract to develop and build the B-21 in 2015, and the company has invested more than $5 billion to date, it said. It has accumulated more than $2 billion in total pre-tax losses producing the first prototypes.
The East Gate 3 project celebration follows the July groundbreaking on a “Legacy Building” at its Roy campus to support the Air Force’s Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program. Construction on that building will be complete at the end of 2028.
