Bomber Future Cloudy

The Air Force's consistent preference for tactical combat aircraft continues to weigh against the entire concept of the manned strategic bomber. New bomber development programs are nowhere in sight, and even the existing fleet is under budgetary pressure. Nevertheless, the U.S. bomber fleet's continuing strong performance in recent overseas operations will go a long way toward strengthening the case for maintaining this capability. While budget cuts in 2001 had a strong negative impact on the B-1 update program and the retirement of one-third of the fleet, there is a feeling that the remaining B-1s, B-2s and B-52s constitute a uniquely useful national asset. There has been no more talk of retirements, and upgrade funding actually looks set to increase, for now.

Much of the credit for this change goes to Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). While strategic bombers have generally been regarded as "nontransformational" weapons, they have proven to be ideal carriers of this quintessentially transformational bomb. Bomber JDAM use in the Afghan and Iraq conflicts followed the initial successful deployments of the interim GBU-36 GPS-Aided Munition on the B-2 fleet in 1996. Since then, JDAMs have allowed bombers to fly missions with large payloads and with the strike accuracy typically associated with tactical fighters.

Yet there are few upgrades scheduled for this valuable national legacy. Most work in the pipeline revolves around introducing new weapons, such as Lockheed Martin's AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the AGM-154 Joint Stand-off Weapon (JSOW). JASSM is already in service on the B-2 and B-52, and is due to be integrated on the B-1.

Beyond weapons integration, most work is notably minor. The B-2's stealth maintainability is being improved, while the B-52 is receiving new processors. The B-1 may soon need a lower wing skin replacement program, but there is no definite timetable.

In terms of major bomber upgrades, with the B-1's electronic warfare update canceled, the only thing on the horizon is a possible reengining of the B-52 fleet and the potential addition of a standoff jamming pod. The economics of replacing the eight Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines with four modern, off-the-shelf turbofans were obviously good 15 years ago when the idea first emerged, and they still look good today. The TF33 offers relatively poor fuel economy, and it has growing maintenance problems.

However, with the idea of equipment leasing rejected for now, a B-52 reengining would depend on the Air Force's making bomber funding a priority. Unfortunately, there are few signs of this happening.