U.S. Air Force Increases Efforts on Long-Range Bomber

The U.S. Air Force has created two new offices to study options for a new long-range bomber and expects to be able to field a new system up to 12 years ahead of previous estimates, Aerospace Daily reported today (see GSN, Jan. 26).

Last month, the Air Force created the Long Range Strike (LRS) office and an LRS integrated planning team to begin initial work on a new bomber, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley told a House Armed Services subcommittee yesterday.

Moseley also told lawmakers that the Air Force expects to begin system development and demonstration of a new bomber in 2012-2015, and to field a new system in 2025-2030. The Air Force previously indicated that it would not field a new bomber until 2037, Aerospace Daily reported.

It is unlikely that any new bomber would be hypersonic, according to Aerospace Daily (see GSN, Jan. 22). In his testimony, Moseley cited studies saying that such technology has not developed enough to allow a 2012 program start. He also said the Air Force is considering adapting an existing aircraft, such as the bomber version of the F/A-22 Raptor, to serve as a transition between the current bomber fleet and a new system.

In addition, the Air Force plans to spend more than $600 million in fiscal 2005, and a total of more than $3 billion through fiscal 2009, to improve existing nuclear-capable B-1s, B-2s and B-52s, Moseley said (see GSN, Feb. 18; Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, March 4).

During a conference held last month in Washington by the Heritage Foundation, U.S. Defense Department Office of Net Assessment Director Andrew Marshall said the possibility of new threats arising over the next 20 years meant the Pentagon needed to maintain its efforts to develop a new long-range bomber.

“Part of the task for our forces and our planning of the goals that we try to foster through our transformation is to keep strong where we are,” Marshall said. “Other countries don’t contest the air; we have the oceans,” he said (Jeremy Feiler, Inside The Pentagon, March 4).

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