The B-52s that deployed to fight ISIS earlier this year are still standing up and have not been flying high-tempo operations, though they have been “picking up the pace,” said Air Forces Central Command boss Lt. Gen. Charles Brown during a Thursday briefing. Since the B-52 hasn’t been based in the US Central Command area of operations for 26 years, the command needs to build up its logistic supports to “make sure they’ve got everything they need,” he noted. The operations tempo has continued to increase over the past six weeks, and will continue to do so, Brown said. The Stratofortresses replaced B-1s, which recently rotated out of CENTCOM for the first time since 2001 after setting records for the amount of weapons dropped during its last deployment. Still, the B-52 is another strike platform available and, “I like having them here,” Brown said.
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.