U.S. Bomber Planes at $81 Billion Seen 47% More Than Plan

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-06/u-s-bombers-seen-costing-81-billion-47-more-than-plan.html

The U.S. Air Force’s new long-range bomber may cost as much as $81 billion for the 100 planes planned, 47 percent more than the $55 billion sticker price the service has listed.

The Air Force based its estimate of $550 million per plane on the value of the dollar in 2010, and it represents only the production costs for an aircraft that won’t be deployed for at least 10 years. Including research and development, the bomber would cost as much as $810 million apiece in this year’s dollars, according to calculations by three defense analysts.

The cost of the new bomber will draw close scrutiny in an era of declining defense budgets, as the Pentagon faces $500 billion in reductions over nine years under the budget process called sequestration. The Air Force’s track record also is being questioned after soaring costs for the aging B-2 stealth bomber the new plane would replace and the F-35 fighter jet, the most expensive U.S. weapons system, that’s now being built.

“The Air Force has zero credibility on start-of-program cost estimates unless and until it ponies up real details about the bomber and its acquisition plan,” Winslow Wheeler, a former Government Accountability Office defense analyst now with the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, said in an e-mail. “It is a fool’s errand, or worse, to pretend the cost stated now is anything but a bait-and-switch buy-in gambit.”


The Air Force’s track record is being questioned after soaring costs for the aging B-2 stealth bomber the new plane would replace.

[gordianot]

1. Maybe they need to consider building new B-52's designed in the 1940's still in service.

With updates will be used for another 30 years. Now that just might be cost effective.

[Lurks Often]

2. Most, if not all the tooling to build the B-52 was sent to the scrap yard long ago

The last one left the production line in 1962 and I have heard stories of pilots whose fathers and even grandfathers had flown the same plane.

"The aircraft has been upgraded so much that, according to Barry Posen, "there are dials in the B-52 cockpit that have not been connected to anything for years"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress

The underlying desire of the Air Force for a new bomber is to have an aircraft remain part of the nuclear triad (Plane, ICBM & Submarines with ICBM, additionally cruise missiles represent a fourth part). I question the need for so many delivery systems, however IF there is a need, then a new bomber would be needed as the B-52 can no longer penetrate modern air defenses.