U.S. Air Force
Jerry Hendrix, Defense One: The US Air Force Needs More Bombers Than It’s Asking For
The only problem with the B-21 Raider acquisition strategy is that the minimum purchase should be 164 of the stealthy jets, not 100.
In a future combat zone dominated by advanced 3-D air search radars, directed-energy weapons, electromagnetic railguns, and hypersonic missiles, there is still room — indeed, a strong requirement — for the new B-21 heavy bomber. Analysis suggests that the United States needs a lot of them, far more than the 100 new bombers the Air Force currently
desires.
To prosecute a major, sustained long-range strike campaign within an anti-access/area denial environment dominated by China’s HQ-9 or Russia’s S-400 missiles, the Air Force needs to add a minimum of 164 B-21 bombers to the nation’s older but nonetheless relevant B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. This is because heavy bombers, whose form and function have been honed in hot and cold wars over a century, can perform missions and hit targets that no other platform can. (Find a detailed explanation for this determination in “Higher, Heavier, Farther, and now Undetectable?”, my recent report written with Air Force Lt. Col. James Price and published by the Center for a New American Security.)
Read more ....
WNU Editor: So .... the original request for 100 bombers to meet U.S. needs was wrong .... we now need 164. Any bets that a few years from now that this number of 164 will also be judged to be too small, and we will need over 200?
To prosecute a major, sustained long-range strike campaign within an anti-access/area denial environment dominated by China’s HQ-9 or Russia’s S-400 missiles, the Air Force needs to add a minimum of 164 B-21 bombers to the nation’s older but nonetheless relevant B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. This is because heavy bombers, whose form and function have been honed in hot and cold wars over a century, can perform missions and hit targets that no other platform can. (Find a detailed explanation for this determination in “Higher, Heavier, Farther, and now Undetectable?”, my recent report written with Air Force Lt. Col. James Price and published by the Center for a New American Security.)
Read more ....
WNU Editor: So .... the original request for 100 bombers to meet U.S. needs was wrong .... we now need 164. Any bets that a few years from now that this number of 164 will also be judged to be too small, and we will need over 200?
