On Wednesday, officials from Northrop Grumman, the state and Layton City cut the ribbon on the East Gate 3 building which will support the wider 845,000-square-foot East Gate campus, meant to help in manufacturing the United Staes Air Force’s B-21 Raider.

Kicking off Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was Chris Adams, vice president and general manager of the B-21 Program at Northrop Grumman.

“Earlier this year, the Air Force announced their decision to accelerate production of the B-21 Raider,” he said. “That decision reflects confidence in our design, in our quality, and of course, the workforce behind it. As this program continues to grow, so must the infrastructure, which brings us to why we are here today.”

He said East Gate 3 will be a critical part of that growth.

“This new facility is one of several in progress across the country to support the B-21 program,” he said. “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.

“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 in Layton.”

Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president of Aeronautics Systems at Northrop Grumman, had high praise for the B-21 and the program to design and build it.

“It is a phenomenal machine,” he said. “And it is a phenomenal program. I’m not going to quote by name, but if you follow the media, if you just go out and Google B-21 and look at some of the statements that have been made by our elected officials in Washington, D.C., by acquisition officials and operational officers within the U.S. Department of Air Force and the Department of War (officially titled Department of Defense), you’ll find that they are very, very complimentary to this work there. It has been referred to as one of the best-executed programs in the last four to five decades. It has been noted by a senior member of Congress as having exquisite program management.”

He added that it won’t be long before the first aircraft begins joining America’s arsenal.

“We are on track to have our first aircraft on the ramp at the Ellsworth Air Force Base next year in 2027, which is a very, very exciting thing for those of us who have been on the program for a number of years to be able to say we’re going to get an airplane on the ramp at the Air Force base,” he said.

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams said that Utah has the perfect assets for helping in accelerate the B-21 program.

“I can go down through the list of things why Utah is number one, but we are number one most importantly, I think, because of the people of Utah,” he said. “We have the best. I think we have the best of the best engineers, technicians, manufacturing professionals, skilled workers who will come through this facility and build the technology to keep America safe.”

Layton Mayor Joy Petro said Wednesday was an exciting day in the city’s history.

“It’s not just simply a development, but it’s really Layton’s future,” she said. We’ve worked closely with Northrop and, of course, JL Properties, to help turn this opportunity into a reality. There’s been, obviously, countless conversations, decisions, challenges that we’ve had to solve, and, of course, the detailed work all along the way, and it really took a lot of collaboration, trust, and, quite honestly, a shared vision of what could be built here, and today we get to see those results.”

This marks the second major milestone for Northrop Grumman and developments around Hill Air Force Base this summer. In July, ground was broken on the Legacy Building in the Roy Innovation Center in support of the Sentinel ICBM program.