Finally, U.S. Air Force Release A Newest Stealth Bomber

 

In mid-april 2020 the air force abruptly ended its 16 year old rotation of B1, B2 and B-52 bombers at anderson air force base in guam. At least one expert believes the abrupt end to the continuous bomber rotation effort signals a further decline in the air force's ability to project long-range firepower. The air force knows this mission area as stretched too thin. retired air force major general Larry Stutzriam and Douglas Berkey wrote in Defense News.

Stuttering is the director of studies at the Mitchell Institute for aerospace studies in Virginia. Berkey is the institute's executive director the flying branch.

However put a happy spin on the decision to halt the bomber rotation which since 2004 has maintained a small force of bombers in the western pacific region in order to deter chinese aggression. Bombers aren't necessarily going to deploy less often or in fewer numbers, the air force implied.

Rather they're simply going to deploy less predictably under a new scheme the service calls dynamic force employment. Our diverse bomber fleet B-52, B-1 and B-2 allows us to respond to global events anytime, anywhere. Whether they're launched from Louisiana Guam or the UK long-range strategic bombers have and will remain a bedrock of our deterrence? Air force global strike command tweeted on april 16 2020.

The air force six days later launched its first dynamic bomber sortie. A single B1 took off from its base in South Dakota and over the course of a 30-hour sortie, flew all the way to japan and formed up with japanese air force F2 and F-15 fighters and locally based U.S air force F-16s before turning back toward the united states. The B-1 sortie might have seemed to underscore the air force's continuing commitment to a global bomber presence despite the flying branch also planning on cutting its 157 strong bomber fleet by 1B2 and 17B1.

The service as part of its 2021 budget submission has asked congress for permission to begin decommissioning the bombers. The B-1s in particular suffered from overuse over Afghanistan and the middle east in the decades followed terror attacks and also suffered from a dearth of maintenance. The result in 2019 was an abysmal readiness rate for the swing wing bomber.

In july 2019 just seven of 62 B-1s were fully mission capable, South Dakota senator Mike Rounds revealed, "readiness somewhat improved in 2020".

The air force framed the first dynamic B-1 mission as evidence of the service's enduring and undiminished ability to deploy long-range air power, but stuttering and berkey see the situation differently. The defunct bomber rotation was a tremendous success they wrote.

It clearly communicated u.s readiness to act decisively when u.s and allied interests were challenged. Halting the bomber rotation now sends the opposite message just as the region grows more dangerous. Stutzriam and Berkey added "this is a decision with significant risk yet it is an outcome compelled by past choices resulting in a bomber force on the edge".