{"id":14862,"date":"2020-02-28T16:41:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/28\/air-force-general-two-bomber-fleet-is-the-future\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:16:17","slug":"air-force-general-two-bomber-fleet-is-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/02\/28\/air-force-general-two-bomber-fleet-is-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force general: Two-bomber fleet is the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The future of the Air Force\u2019s bomber fleet will be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/air\/2019\/08\/21\/the-b-21-raider-looms-large-over-the-celebration-of-b-2s-first-flight\/\" target=_blank>B-21 Raider<\/a>, now under development, and a heavily modified version of the Cold War-era <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/10\/10\/b-52-stratofortresses-deploy-to-england\/\" target=_blank>B-52 Stratofortress<\/a>, Lt. Gen. David Nahom, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told lawmakers on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nahom said getting to that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/03\/27\/ellsworth-to-be-first-operational-b-21-base\/?utm_expid=.jFR93cgdTFyMrWXdYEtvgA.1&#038;utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F#jwvideo\" target=_blank>two-bomber fleet<\/a> is important as the Air Force shifts to a strategy focused on what the Pentagon calls \u201cgreat power competition\u201d \u2014 preparing for a conflict with a peer or near-peer nation such as China or Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOn the bomber fleet, there\u2019s nothing more important to the Air Force,\u201d Nahom told the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and projection forces. \u201cIf you look at what the bombers bring, no one else brings it. Our joint partners don\u2019t bring it, our coalition partners don\u2019t bring it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit are important in the meantime, and each bring important capabilities, Nahom said. The B-2\u2032s ability to penetrate enemy airspace and carry nuclear weapons, and the volume of ordnance the B-1 can carry, make each aircraft crucial for now, he said. The Air Force needs to keep the B-2 until the B-21 is delivered and nuclear-certified, he said, which will likely take about a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeping the B-1 is trickier, Nahom said, largely because the Air Force has flown it so hard over the last several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve used that airplane, and overused it over many years,\u201d Nahom said of the B-1. \u201cIt\u2019s broken, in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/08\/02\/the-air-forces-b-1-bombers-are-in-more-dire-shape-than-we-thought\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tinker-B-1.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The Air Force\u2019s B-1 bombers are in more dire shape than we thought<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">&quot;We\u2019re just beating the heck out of them, deploying them, deploying them,&quot; Gen. John Hyten told lawmakers.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force reported a 51.75 percent mission-capable rate for its 62 Lancers in 2018. But last August, Gen. John Hyten, now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers that just six B-1 Lancers were fully mission-capable, indicating the fleet is in much worse shape than was previously known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some B-1s at Ellsworth and Dyess Air Force bases are so far gone, Nahom said, that it made more sense to take them offline. That way, maintainers could instead focus on fixing the Lancers that have a better shot at returning to flying status, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s why the Air Force proposed cutting 17 B-1s as part of its fiscal 2021 budget, released earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat takes the worst actors offline, and lets the maintainers now concentrate on the airplanes that have a better road to recovery,\u201d Nahom said. \u201cWe think, by doing this, we\u2019ll get the mission-capable rate to a more acceptable level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By doing that, Nahom said, the Air Force should be able to maintain the B-1 fleet until the B-21 becomes operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, noted that the Air Force is talking about retiring relatively younger aircraft and keeping the much-older B-52s \u2014 some of which might be flying until they\u2019re 100 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Nahom acknowledged that many B-52s are old in years, they\u2019re relatively young in terms of flying hours, because they sat on nuclear alert during the Cold War and weren\u2019t flown as hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By upgrading key parts of the B-52, including replacing engines, adding a new radar and other new technologies, \u201cwe\u2019re going to be able to do things with that airplane that we would not be able to do with a B-1 or a B-2,\u201d Nahom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The re-engining of the B-52 is going well, and the service\u2019s request for proposal should be released this year, said Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roper also quoted Indiana Jones as he discussed the B-52\u2032s potential longevity: \u201cIt\u2019s not the years, it\u2019s the mileage. That very much applies to airplanes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit have brought important capabilities, they will be phased out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-14862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NAY5T7XWCZD63GI6VDQKGEEIDE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/02\/28\/air-force-general-two-bomber-fleet-is-the-future\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Air Force general: Two-bomber fleet is the future - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit have brought important capabilities, they will be phased out.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Air Force general: Two-bomber fleet is the future\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit have brought important capabilities, they will be phased out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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