{"id":29116,"date":"2020-07-26T16:27:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T16:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/26\/in-a-future-usaf-bomber-force-old-and-ugly-beats-new-and-snazzy\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:04:25","slug":"in-a-future-usaf-bomber-force-old-and-ugly-beats-new-and-snazzy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/07\/26\/in-a-future-usaf-bomber-force-old-and-ugly-beats-new-and-snazzy\/","title":{"rendered":"In a future USAF bomber force, old and ugly beats new and snazzy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. \u2014 In the topsy-turvy world of U.S. strategic bombers, older and uglier sometimes beats newer and snazzier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Air Force charts a bomber future in line with the Pentagon\u2019s new focus on potential war with China or Russia, the youngest and flashiest \u2014 the stealthy B-2, costing a hair-raising $2 billion each \u2014 is to be retired first. The oldest and stodgiest \u2014 the Vietnam-era B-52 \u2014 will go last. It could still be flying when it is 100 years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This might seem to defy logic, but the elite group of men and women who have flown the bat-winged B-2 Spirit accept the reasons for phasing it out when a next-generation bomber comes on line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my mind, it actually does make sense to have the B-2 as an eventual retirement candidate,\u201d says John Avery, who flew the B-2 for 14 years from Whiteman Air Force Base in western Missouri. He and his wife, Jennifer, were the first married couple to serve as B-2 pilots; she was the first woman to fly it in combat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force sees it as a matter of money, numbers and strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\t