Future of the United States Long Range, Heavy Manned Bomber Programme
By:
R. Colon
PO Box 29754
Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 00929
Under the
current set of planning in the Pentagon, the venerable B-52,
the B-1 Lancer and the new B-2 Spirit bomber will still be
the backbone of the United States Air Force deterrence
capability well beyond 2035, by which time, attrition will
have reduced the bomber force below the necessary minimum of
170 front line aircraft. It would have been hard to imagine
back in the early 1950s, but the B-52 will probably fly
until 2045, nearly a full century after it first took to the
air. The current planning is based on a set of operating
procedures, service life estimates and attrition models. At
the current pace, the front line service inventory will
reach the minimum required number of 170 by 2035. On this
date, the Initial Operational Capability would already had
developed and introduced to the active inventory the next
generation long range heavy bomber. Based on this current
development plan, a programme for the research and
development of a next generation bomber should start no
later than 2013. Any delays beyond that day will almost
certainly put the force of active bombers below the
threshold of 170. There’s a variable in the current planning
estimates. As changes in manufacturing techniques fuelled by
advances in technologies related to precision munitions,
established and emerging threats. Improvements in the
aerospace industry ability to perform cost effective
structural extensions and major systems upgrades to existing
airframes could extend the current bomber force beyond
current estimates. These developments could push back the
original timeline for acquisition of a replacement bomber
programme.
The new bomber programme, the Light Bomber Concept calls for
the development of a medium size airplane that combines the
advantages of the newest tactical fighters with the
strategic mission profile of a heavy bomber. The envisioned
result of this combination would be the design of a
medium-long range bomber with a high payload capability.
This new aircraft would probably utilize a new form of
low-observable, stealthy system that would render the bomber
nearly invisible to even the newest of tracking radar
systems. The United States Congress directed the Air Force
to produce a new bomber research and development report. The
Bomber Industrial Capabilities Study was born. Its main
conclusion stated that the complete process of designing and
data collection for a new bomber would easily cost in excess
of $35 billion. The main future research advisory panel for
the Unites States Air Force, the Scientific Advisory Board,
suggested that the new bomber would need to have the ability
to take off from bases in America and fly its mission
profile anywhere in the world. Currently envisioned profile
for this new bomber had it with a service range of 3,250
nautical miles without refuelling. The speeds the new bomber
would reach, Mach 2, would rival that of the cancelled
Valkarie Heavy Bomber. The fastest bomber ever designed. The
weight specifications would be 350,000lbs fully loaded. The
payload the bomber would carry according to the concept
specifications would be 20,000lbs. But the most impressive
feature of this new heavy bird would be its stealthy
characteristics. In the past, conventional wisdom stated
that any improvement on the speed of the bomber would come
at the expense of its stealth capabilities. The slower the
bomber moves, the more invisible it would be to the enemy
radar system. The use of current off the shelf technologies
added to the amazing new developments taking place today
would enable this new bomber to reach speeds never imagined
without losing any of its stealth capabilities. An inventory
of just 80 of these new bombers could deliver enough
precision ordinances to duplicate the Allied total air
effort of the 1991’s Desert Storm campaign.
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