A Bomber for the Navy
April 15, 2019
By: Will Spears and Ross Hobbs
Abstract: Rather than sending the B-1 Lancer into early retirement, the Department of Defense could transfer it to the Navy for duty as a land-based ship-killer. Considering its speed, range, payload, and flexibility to employ the new Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), the B-1 is an ideal candidate for rebirth as a Sea Control Bomber.
For better than a decade, the United States’ defense establishment has agonized over China’s aggressive military modernization. A growing arsenal of land-based anti-ship missiles abets an increasingly capable and assertive Chinese navy, threatening to quietly transform the East and South China Seas into de-facto Chinese territory if not forcefully challenged. The military aspects of this competition demand an ability to fight in the contested environment, prompting the development of concepts like the former Air-Sea Battle and its successor, JAM-GC, as well as a steady drumbeat of calls from senior leaders for disruptive thinking and creative solutions.
It was in this spirit of disruptive thinking that, at a CNAS-hosted panel discussion titled “A New American Way of War,†former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work casually offered up a fascinating bit of heresy:
https://othjournal.com/2019/04/15/a-bomber-for-the-navy/
