Air Force Materiel Command posted a sources sought notice for the Next-Generation Penetrator on June 1. The notice identifies the weapon as the alternate name for the GBU-76/B.
The GBU-76/B is intended to succeed the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The Air Force used the GBU-57 in June 2025 to strike deeply buried Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer.
That operation marked the first combat use of the 30,000-pound, 20-foot Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The weapon is carried by the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
The current MOP uses its steel casing and heavy mass to penetrate rock, steel, concrete or other hardened materials before detonation. It is intended to destroy deeply buried laboratories, storage facilities, command centers and other key targets.
The GBU-76/B is expected to operate in a similar role. The sources sought notice says the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s weapons directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, aims to award a multiple-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for the program.
The planned contract would cover research and development, production, testing and delivery of the GBU-76. The Air Force is asking interested vendors to show how they could support the design, production, testing and beddown of components and activities related to the weapon’s development, performance and sustainment.
That work could include engineering, modeling, simulation and analysis, production, hardware procurement, software and aircraft integration, and other tasks. Responses to the notice are due June 16.
The notice follows earlier work on the Next-Generation Penetrator. In September, the Air Force awarded a 24-month contract to Applied Research Associates and Boeing to produce a prototype of the bomb.
That contract built on a 2024 request for information that said the Air Force wanted a prototype weighing no more than 22,000 pounds. The requested characteristics also included accuracy within 2.2 meters 90% of the time, blast, fragmentation and penetration effects, and possible integration of embedded fuze technology.
The latest notice says vendors should show they understand how to create large penetrator warhead systems weighing roughly 20,000 to 30,000 pounds. They also should have performed such work for the government for at least five years and have the equipment, facilities, personnel and other resources needed for the task.
The Air Force said small businesses may submit responses showing how they could carry out part of the program requirement. However, the notice says foreign-owned or foreign-controlled firms will not be considered for the Next-Generation Penetrator program.
The current Massive Ordnance Penetrator can only be carried by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, which conducted the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes. A lighter Next-Generation Penetrator could allow the smaller B-21 Raider to carry more than one penetrating weapon, according to the article.
