Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his widely reported April 21 remarks (see above) at the Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., acknowledged that the Air Force has been “in the process of constant change for decades” with, what he termed “a steady drumbeat of expeditionary operations” since the service “has been at war, more or less constantly, for 17 years.”
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.