As the ground war in Iraq continues, the U.S. Air Force's plan to look beyond counter-insurgencies toward a future bomber may be a hard sell in Washington.
A Pentagon and Capitol Hill--distracted with the path ahead in Iraq--may deem discussion of a new bomber to thwart adversaries in North Korea or possibly China, premature. USAF is beginning to make its case for the system. Against this political backdrop, however, the service is walking another fine line: explaining why it is seemingly playing it safe on the bomber's requirements.
The decision to keep a pilot in the bomber's cockpit has generated discussions centering on why the Air Force's options for a future bomber became as limited as they are and how to proceed with technology efforts in this mission area.
I can't help but wonder if we're not missing an opportunity here. We need to be able to hit anywhere in the world very, very fast and to have a bomb truck with very long staying power on site for strikes. These need not be the same platform. However, in either case there seems to be little point in using the platform being described. Ah well.
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