PROCUREMENT: B-21 Program Approaching Critical Design Review.

The review, also known as a CDR, is a key technical assessment for major acquisition programs.

“We haven’t done CDR yet [but] we are on our way to critical design review,” said Randy Walden, director and program executive officer for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, which is shepherding the B-21 program.

“I suspect it will be done before the end of the year. That’s our plan today,” he said during remarks at an Air Force Association event in Arlington, Virginia.

The B-21 Raider is one the Defense Department’s top acquisition priorities. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the effort.

The Pentagon hopes to begin fielding the platform by the mid-2020s or sooner. The program was put under the purview of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office to try to speed up the development process.

Walden said the service already has a model of the B-21 that has undergone wind testing.

“Any aircraft program that’s going through development, you’re going to wind tunnel testing, we’re no different,” he said. “You’re going to go from an estimate on a piece of paper and drawings, to [doing] the right things that can get you to build out the system, and wind tunnel testing is one of them. And we’re following that line because it makes sense from an engineering point of view.”

Aerospace engineer Will Collier noted on Twitter that “Going from award to CDR in less than three years is pretty darn fast in Big Defense Aerospace time.”