Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley told reporters this morning at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando that the service’s new long-range strike aircraft will be the “backbone of the bomber force.” With long-range strike and F-22 fleet size hanging on it, the new program better work. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne added that the Air Force is going to try to get initial operating capability on the new bomber by 2018, but he acknowledges, “We know that will be a struggle.”
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.