The Air Force is setting out to do something it hasn’t done in more than two decades: acquire a heavy bomber. The aspiration is to have an operational long range strike bomber in the air by the mid-2020s.To do so, the service will have to avoid some of the pitfalls of the past, and keep funding flowing to the program despite budget pressures, analysts said/.../
Experts interviewed said that the Air Force and industry were capable of delivering the LRS-B, as it is also known, on budget and on time, but there are some big “ifs.”
“I have no doubt that the mid-2020s goal can be met — given sufficient funding,” said Mark Gunzinger, senior fellow at the Center of Strategic and Budgetary Assessment/.../
Research-and-development funding is beginning to flow, although much of the program remains classified.
Gunzinger said in policy circles, the need for a stealthy, long-range bomber is fairly well established. Air Force officials have consistently said it is one of the service’s top acquisition priorities.