![]() Supportability funding will go toward identifying and fixing specific issues that “drive” non-mission capable rates, USAF said. The B-2 will also receive a cryptological upgrade. The Air Force will also “study multiple structural, avionics, and engine modifications, as well as advanced weapons integration and advanced communications, that could improve the performance of the aircraft and engines and reduce maintenance man-hours and the logistics footprint of the fleet,” the service said in its budget justification. Much of the money requested for the B-2 is to upgrade its avionics, communications systems, cockpit displays, weapons, stealth capabilities, training gear, support equipment, and supportability initiatives.Īircraft that were modified to test the canceled Defensive Management System will be de-modified to make them consistent with the other aircraft in the fleet. Research, development, test, and evaluation for the B-2 shows an even more stark dropoff, starting with $87.6 million in 2024, but again falling by more than half to $33.14 million in 2025, followed by just a few thousand dollars a year until 2028, and nothing after that. The “to completion” line in the B-2 procurement account is zero, meaning no further funding is expected to be requested beyond that point. Funding would start at $107.9 million in FY ’24, drop by almost half to $57.16 million in 2025, fall slightly in each of the next two years, and then plummet to $15.78 million in 2028. The Air Force is requesting $284.9 million for B-2 procurement over the Future Years Defense Plan, running from fiscal year 2024-28. The B-1 fleet was reduced to 45 aircraft less than two years ago, although the maintenance manpower and funding for the 17 retired airplanes was retained to boost the mission capability of those that remain. said at the aircraft’s December 2022 rollout-and require a smaller manpower footprint. The B-21 is expected to offer a sharp improvement in availability-a “daily flyer” as Chief of Staff Gen. The B-2’s stealth systems, though improved over the last decade, remain challenging and a voracious consumer of maintenance man-hours. Global Strike Command has said in the last few years it intends to devote its finite manpower and fiscal resources to a two-bomber force-the B-21 and B-52-and retire the B-1 and B-2, which have recorded middling mission capability rates in recent years.įrom the small B-2 fleet of just 20 aircraft, GSC can muster about 14 for operations at any given time, the remainder either being in test, depot, or down for maintenance. ![]() Though the B-1 and B-2 potentially have additional years of service, the near-cutoff in spending in the next five years could make it difficult to keep them credible into the 2030s, should Congress direct that they be retained. Air Force budget documents show B-1 and B-2 bomber spending dwindling through the end of the 2020s, as the service puts priority on the new B-21 and the upgraded B-52.
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