"His extensive leadership experience and deep understanding of global security are a great fit to our board, and we are excited about the contributions he will make as Northrop Grumman employees around the globe work to create value for our customers and shareholders," company CEO Wes Bush said in a statement.
This appointment comes less than a year after Northrop Grumman had beaten both Lockheed Martin and Boeing in competition in competition for a first contract of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) program, aimed at developing new B-21 Raider bomber. The whole LRSB program is said to be worth some $80 billion, a figure that is likely to rise, making it one of the largest DoD contracts in decades.
Air Force names futuristic long-range bomber, the B-21 Raider — https://t.co/JZY04zxHya pic.twitter.com/V1LaJz2A2r
— serg hoholok (@hoholokcom) 10 ноября 2016 г.
Welsh became air force chief of staff in 2012, and retired five months ago. During his service, he continuously advocated development of new aircraft for the service branch. He now becomes the 14th member of company's board of directors.
"The platforms and systems that made us great over the last 50 years will not make us great over the next 50," Welsh declared before US lawmakers earlier this February.
"There are many other systems we need to either upgrade or recapitalize to ensure viability against current and emerging threats… the only way to do that is to divest old capability to build the new," he stated.
The B-21 Raider, a look-alike of the notorious stealth-enabled B-2 Spirit aircraft, is a "flying wing" long-range bomber, and has reportedly already earned some bitter nicknames, including "Fundsucker" and "Bombie McBombface," partly due to the enormous projected cost and profound problems of another new US warplane, the F-35 Lightning II.
