Although Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he’s only postponed the Air Force’s next-generation bomber, it is “zeroed out” for 2010, deputy Air Force budget director Patricia Zarodkiewicz told reporters at a Pentagon briefing Thursday. No placeholder money is in the procurement or R&D budgets. Gates has said he wants more clarity on the NGB program—a position criticized by some defense analysts and lawmakers, who cite the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and a decade of study. As recently as last year, the Next Generation Bomber was expected to be a $5 billion R&D effort. The budget does contain $500 million to continue upgrading and operating the existing bomber fleet, mainly with new radars and communications gear. There’s another $173 million to keep 76 B-52s available as nuclear platforms. However, USAF officials could not immediately say whether there’s any money for upgrade, service life extension, or replacement of the AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile or AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile, which only the B-52 carries and without which it has no nuclear mission. The Air Force announced a heavy drawdown of both missile inventories two years ago.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.