US Air Force Awards Two-Year Contract to ARA to Prototype Next Generation Penetrator, Successor to the GBU 57
Applied Research Associates secured a 24-month award from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Eglin Munitions Directorate to act as System Design Agent for an air-to-ground Next Generation Penetrator. The company will build and test sub-scale and full-scale articles under the award. The Air Force did not release the contract value.
Boeing joined the team to design and develop the tail kit and support all-up-round integration. According to industry sources, the teaming draws on Boeing’s role with the current Massive Ordnance Penetrator while leaving ARA in charge of weapon design.
The Air Force program office set the effort as a prototype with a defined output. The scope includes fabrication, ground testing, and progression to full-scale static trials once sub-scale results close on expected performance.
ARA said the work targets hard and deeply buried sites, and confirmed sub-scale and full-scale prototypes within the two-year period.
Applied Research Associates leads Next Generation Penetrator Boeing builds tail kit
ARA’s award notice places the company as System Design Agent for the Next Generation Penetrator, a successor track to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The office at Eglin issued the award after internal planning that favors a compact timeline to deliver test articles.
Boeing’s role centers on the tail kit and integration with delivery aircraft. Defense officials confirm the current MOP uses a Boeing-built tail unit with an integrated guidance package, and the NGP follows a similar split for early builds.
ARA will mature the penetrator body and internal architecture. Boeing will take guidance and control surfaces, as well as fit checks for carriage and release.
Public and official notices align on the two-year period of performance, Boeing’s integration support, and the lack of disclosed contract value.
The award framework directs ARA to fabricate both sub-scale and full-scale penetrators. Sub-scale work supports early materials and geometry checks. Full-scale articles move the program toward static events and flight-representative integration once lab and range data align.
RFI requirements on weight, guidance, quantities, and navigation resilience
In February 2024, Air Force contracting documents outline expectations for a prototype warhead design that does not exceed 22,000 pounds while delivering blast, fragmentation, and penetration effects. The same notice asks vendors to address accuracy when GPS is degraded or denied.
The request sets accuracy thresholds and accepts alternative guidance, navigation, and control approaches that hold performance in GPS-limited conditions. Program material describes fuze options that sense depth or voids to trigger detonation at a preferred point within a target complex.
Deliverables include roughly ten sub-scale warheads and three to five full-scale warheads within 18 to 24 months of contract award. The cadence gives the office time to process sub-scale results before green-lighting full-scale static work and any follow-on integration checks.
The lighter warhead ceiling, compared to the current 30,000-pound MOP, points to increased carriage flexibility and an updated effects design, a delta in mass noted across government records and technical reporting.
The RFI places navigation resilience at the center. Vendors must hold terminal accuracy when satellite signals are degraded and present credible alternatives or augmentation for midcourse and terminal phases.
Extract from the 2024 request:
Warhead mass: not to exceed 22,000 lb.
Effects: blast, fragmentation, penetration.
Accuracy: maintained in GPS-aided, degraded, and denied environments.
Deliverables: ~10 sub-scale and 3–5 full-scale warheads in 18–24 months.
The office referenced embedded fuze technology in planning documents. That option improves timing control after penetration and allows better alignment with internal target spaces.
Operational use of MOP in Iran in June 2025 and lessons for NGP
In June 2025 U.S. Air Force B-2 crews carried out the first operational use of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator during strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Reporting and official briefings describe employment against Fordow ventilation shafts and strikes on additional sites.
Public accounts detail twelve MOP drops against the Fordow complex and a total of fourteen MOPs during the operation. Pentagon briefers described fuze programming to tune detonation timing once the weapons entered the underground mission space.
Imagery and later analysis described severe damage at Fordow and debate over the extent of effects at Natanz and Isfahan. Those differences don’t change the record that MOP saw its first operational use and that underground infrastructure took heavy damage.
Defense officials confirm lessons from the Iran strikes feed follow-on efforts. Statements since June link battle damage assessment to fuze improvements and to planning for a successor penetrator.
After combat employment, the Air Force moved quickly to lock in a prototype path with a near-term demonstration endpoint rather than an open-ended study.
Accounts of the strike sequence emphasize two features tied to NGP planning. First, repeatable accuracy on a known point even when GPS faces interference. Second, fuze logic that accounts for internal geometry, elevation changes, and voids.
Schedule test plan and bomber integration through FY27
Budget documents show a request of about $73.7 million in fiscal 2026 for Next Generation Penetrator research, development, test, and evaluation. The program office targets completion of prototype demonstration by the end of fiscal 2027.
Program material indicates the B-2 remains the only operational carrier for MOP and a reference for early integration work. Technical reporting adds that B-21 carriage is expected to differ because of size and bay geometry. Those differences encourage a lighter successor or rebalanced effects design.
The near-term test plan runs through sub-scale shots, full-scale static events, and integration checks tied to delivery platforms. The Air Force structured deliverables to keep those tracks moving without waiting on a single dominant test article.
Program planning documents and prior Air Force materials point to interest in embedded fuzing, higher terminal accuracy, and in some concepts, standoff options for survivability. These remain planning references rather than formalized requirements for the current prototype contract.
According to informed sources, the office expects lab and range data to drive any hardware changes during the 24-month window. The prototype phase will resolve effects scaling, timing logic, and guidance performance before a later production-representative configuration appears in program baselines.
The delivery plan for sub-scale and full-scale warheads fits inside 18 to 24 months from contract award. That schedule aligns with the announcement period in early September and places key test events inside the fiscal 2026-2027 span.
B-2 operations and the June strike experience keep pressure on accuracy and penetration depth rather than raw mass. Air Force commentary since June highlights fuze performance and terminal effects as primary levers to hold effectiveness while reducing gross weight.
Our analysis finds the Air Force set NGP up as an execution-focused prototype with explicit quantities, a weight cap below MOP, and a guidance-heavy design goal informed by the June strike data.
REFERENCE SOURCES
https://insidedefense.com/insider/air-force-picks-ara-build-next-generation-penetrator
https://www.ara.com/news/ara-awarded-next-generation-penetrator-contract/
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2025/09/08/us-air-force-awards-contract-to-prototype-next-gen-bunker-buster-bomb/
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/09/air-force-taps-ara-boeing-team-for-next-gen-bunker-buster-prototype/
https://www.twz.com/air/gbu-57-massive-ordnance-perpetrators-replacement-prototypes-just-ordered-by-usaf
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/22/satellite-images-show-damage-from-us-strikes-on-irans-fordow-nuclear-site
The post US Air Force Awards Two-Year Contract to ARA to Prototype Next Generation Penetrator, Successor to the GBU 57 appeared first on DEFENSE-AEROSPACE.
Applied Research Associates secured a 24-month award from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Eglin Munitions Directorate to act as System Design Agent for an air-to-ground Next Generation Penetrator. The company will build and test sub-scale and full-scale articles under the award. The Air Force did not release the contract value. Boeing joined the team to design and develop the tail kit and support all-up-round integration. According to industry sources, the teaming draws on Boeing’s role with the current Massive Ordnance Penetrator while leaving ARA in charge of weapon design. The Air Force program office set the effort as
The post US Air Force Awards Two-Year Contract to ARA to Prototype Next Generation Penetrator, Successor to the GBU 57 appeared first on DEFENSE-AEROSPACE.
