The Two of Two Bombers

The United States and Russia are both seeking to replace their strategic bombers.  The US is working with a combination of bombers that date to the 1950s, 1970s/1980s and 1990s. The USAF has 76 B-52s, 66 B-1s, and 20 B-2s.  This is also true of the Russians.  The Russians have 63 Tu-95s, 151 Tu-22s Tu-22Ms (sorta strategic) and 16 Tu-160s.

The US has embarked on the Long-Range Strike Bomber and the Russians have started on the PAK-DA.  The USAF NGB is intended to enter service in 2022.  The Russians state the same thing.  The question is whether either of them are going to be doing so. The US needs to keep costs down and survive the exceedingly serious issues it has had with project management.  The Russians need to overcome the issues with the aerospace industry's massive decline and unsubstantiated and incredible (in the negative sense) boasting claims (Hypersonic bomber by 2022?  Really, guys?  Really? (as my daughter would say))

Flight Global has articles on the status of both programs here and here.

Interestingly, the Chinese, Indians and Europeans are not developing this capability.  Or perhaps the Chinese are, but are not yet talking about it.  After all, their J-20 and J-21 programs have come to light and there was at best little said about them ahead of time.