The Air Force is planning to invest nearly $1.7 billion to continue modernizing the B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers over the next five years, revising earlier plans to retire those aircraft before the B-21 Raider is fielded in bulk.
Extending the bombers ensures USAF retains the speed, range, and stealth unique to those two platforms while it fields the next-generation B-21 and overhauls its B-52s into the new J configuration, with new engines and an all-glass cockpit.
The B-1 and B-2s had been targeted for retirement in the early 2030s. But both have demonstrated continued combat value in recent operations, and with President Trump’s push to increase defense spending, the door opened to continue to update the aircraft.
New budget documents detail plans to spend $342 million on B-1 modernization from 2027 to 2031. “This request provides the necessary funding to modernize the platform, ensuring its lethality and relevance through 2037,” the budget said.
The Air Force will invest even more in its small fleet of B-2s—$1.35 billion over the same five-year window. The documents don’t show a retirement date for the B-2s.
Retired Col. Mark Gunzinger, a former deputy undersecretary of defense and bomber expert who flew B-52s during his flying career, said it’s likely the B-2s will remain longer, alongside the B-1s.
“Given the skyrocketing demand [for bomber capacity], it makes perfect sense to buy back the B-1 and B-2,” said Gunzinger, now director of future concepts and capability assessments for AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “The B-2 is the only fully operational stealth bomber that we have, and frankly, long-range penetrating strike capability is one of the most significant shortfalls in our military. So why divest the B-2 early? It was completely budget-driven and resource driven.”
In a statement, Air Force Global Strike Command said the B-2s will continue to operate from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., for as long as they are needed, even after the B-21 comes online. The first operational B-21s will be fielded at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., in 2027, with Whiteman the second base to host them.
“As we field the B-21, the requirement exists to simultaneously train and perform operational missions,” the Global Strike spokesperson said. “The B-2 will remain a critical long-range strike option for the President and will be maintained as a viable capability for as long as it is needed for national security.”
The Air Force has 44 B-1s and 19 B-2s, but of the two, only the B-2 can carry nuclear weapons. The B-1, however, is equipped to carry more conventional weapons—both guided and unguided—than any other aircraft in the Air Force’s inventory.
Gunzinger said the extensions reflect the Air Force’s recognition that it will need the older bombers to keep pace with current operational requirements as it works to bring new capabilities to the field.
“The operational demand for bombers continues to go in one direction: up,” Gunzinger said. “That is both peacetime demand for bombers, to support bomber task force operations which help maintain deterrence globally, but also for operations like Midnight Hammer.”
That successful attack on Iran’s nuclear sites by seven B-2s operating together in June 2025 “was one of the tipping points toward buying back both bombers,” he said. Only the B-2 could carry and deliver the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs used in that operation, and the need to preserve that unique capability was suddenly much clearer to national security leaders.
In the recent Operation Epic Fury against Iran, all three current bomber fleets—B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s—took part.
Gunzinger said the Air Force had considered extending the lives of those bombers all along, but concerns about funding and crewing those airplanes held them back until now. With the Pentagon requesting an all-time record $1.5 trillion budget for 2027, Gunzinger said, the view in the bomber community was that now that would be possible.
Keeping them, and building more B-21s than originally planned, will make it less risky when the time comes to finally retire the older bombers. And by the time the Air Force cuts back to its planned fleet of B-21s and B-52Js, the service will have been able to invest in bomber sustainment, including depot capacity, spare parts, and maintenance talent—areas that in recent years had to be cut back for lack of resources.