Shouldn't The US Air Force Buy At Least 200 B-21s?
Multiple reports and photographs are emerged showing the B-21 Raider take off from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calf., en route to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
KRIS OSBORN, WARRIOR MAVEN - CENTER FOR MILITARY MODERNIZATIONDEC 2, 2023
By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The US Air Force has in recent years expended massive amounts of energy attempting to balance its bomber fleet, prepare for the future and close a long-standing "bomber-deficit" troubling Air Combatant Commanders for years.
Although the service's B-2 has been successfully upgraded with somewhat unanticipated levels of success, and the B-52 is essentially an entirely new aircraft compared to its inception decades ago, the service has for years been struggling to address the size, composition and readiness challenges it has been confronted with in recent decades.
An Air Force bomber-vector text years ago emphasized the need to sustain upgrades for the B-2 and further extent B-1B operational service to preserve the service's bombing capability until sufficient numbers of the B-21 arrive. Several years ago, senior Air Force officials said the service could, or at least should, acquire more than 150 to 250 B-21s. The need is there, particularly given today's global threat environment, to build and deploy a 250-or-more aircraft B-21 fleet. This possibility makes sense given the tactical and strategic range of operations the B-21 is an "will-be" capable of. It will operate with an ability to control drones, sense threat areas, process sensor data from otherwise disparate pools or sources of information and transmit as needed across a multi-domain force. The B-21 will also be capable of flying unmanned missions and operating as a stealth "attack' platform as well as a multi-mode sensor "node" or aerial communication hub across a joint, multi-domain force.
https://warriormaven.com/air/new-air-force-b-21-stealth-bomber-takes-to-the-sky-for-first-flight-a-new-era
