Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, a marvel of 1980s technology, remains a critical asset for long-range, undetected strikes. Initially planned for a fleet of 132, only 20 were built, and today just 19 remain, a mistake that now can't be fixed with production lines closed long ago. 

-With plans to replace the B-2s with the costly and complex B-21 Raider, concerns are rising about whether the Air Force will ever reach its goal of 300 new bombers.

Most Important Points on B-2 Bomber: Instead of retiring the B-2 fleet, the Air Force should consider reconstituting production to maintain a robust, proven long-range stealth capability, ensuring national security and respecting taxpayer investment.

America Needs More B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers

America’s B-2 Spirit stealth long-range bomber was developed in the 1980s, but it is still a modern marvel. It can bring more than 40,000 pounds of ordnance, including nuclear weapons, to faraway targets. Thanks to its stealth capabilities, the B-2 Spirit bomber can fly to those distant targets undetected. 

When the U.S. Air Force first procured these systems, the plan was to have a fleet of 132 planes. Because of the complexity and cost, that number was quickly reduced to 75. But the Air Force never got more than 20 of these birds.

Today, there are 19 B-2s, and the Air Force is in the process of retiring them.

The Air Force Aims High, Falls Short with Its Stealth Bomber Plan

The Air Force says it wants to replace these bombers with the newer, more capable B-21 Raider. Indeed, that should be the long-term plan. The only problem with it is that the B-21 is more complex and expensive than the B-2 Spirit. Just as with the B-2, the Air Force wants 300 B-21s for the program to be truly worth it – but they’ll settle for 150. Again, pipedreams galore. The Air Force will be lucky if it gets one. 

At $600 million a pop, as the U.S. deals with a federal budget increasingly out of its control and economic situation nationally that is bleaker than the official numbers let on, the likelihood that the B-21 gets off the ground anytime soon is low.

In the meantime, the Air Force is left with diminishing returns and a decreasing long-range stealth strike capacity. Now the Air Force wants to retire its paltry B-2 fleet on the grounds that the planes are old and expensive, and the money spent on maintaining them would be better spent on procuring newer systems like the B-21. 

But everyone should understand that retiring the B-2 fleet will not shake up enough funds for the Air Force to purchase the requisite numbers of B-21 Raiders. Even if it were, the sheer complexity of the B-21, coupled with America’s abysmal industrial capacity, ensures that B-21s will never be mass-produced in the numbers the Air Force dreams of.

Besides, the B-2 is hardly the oldest bomber that the Air Force is operating. 

This is the same Air Force, after all, that unapologetically flies the B-52 Stratofortress as its primary strategic bomber. As a reminder, the B-52 first flew when Harry S. Truman was still in the White House. The Air Force has plans to keep the B-52 flying until the middle of this century. The Stratofortress has no stealth capabilities, by the way. Whatever official reasons the Pentagon is giving for wanting to retire its fleet of B-2s are paper-thin. 

Yes, the B-21 is a must-have. No, the Air Force will not be getting this plane anytime soon. There are political, technological, economic, and industrial reasons for why this will not happen. 

Why discard a perfectly good long-range stealth bomber that remains a threat to America’s enemies? 

Here’s What We Need Instead

Rather than trying to stand up an entirely new, expensive force of complex wonder weapons, the Air Force should dance with the one that brung ‘em. The Air Force should immediately reconstitute the B-2 Spirit production line and build several more units, making whatever modifications they think necessary to make these birds more competitive than they already are in the modern battlespace. 

It is the height of decadence to throw away perfectly good long-range stealth planes in the vain hope that something better can be gotten at some point down the line. It’s impractical and wasteful, too. 

In fact, it’s downright disrespectful to the American taxpayers who work very hard for every penny they earn.

Author Experience and Expertise: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

All images are Creative Commons or Shutterstock.

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