Marc Selinger
Defense Daily
The U.S. Air Force is consulting closely with lawmakers on the bomber roadmap that it plans to unveil in September, the service’s top general said July 26.
“We’re in the process right now of doing something that we’ve been accused in the past of not doing really well, and that is including Congress in the dialogue about where we’re going in the future,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said. Gen. Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, “has been in a very aggressive dialogue with Congress” to ensure the roadmap reflects the legislative body’s input.
The roadmap is expected to describe what the future bomber force will look like. Goldfein, who spoke at an Air Force Association event on Capitol Hill, indicated that the document will be broad in scope.
“It’s not even just a bomber roadmap,” he said. “It’s actually a global strike roadmap that includes all of these capabilities that come together to allow us to hold targets at risk.”
The Air Force’s current bomber modernization efforts include developing the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider and upgrading aging B-1s, B-2s and B-52s.
Separately, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, said that he provided input for the roadmap and is pleased with how the document is taking shape.
“I’ve seen it, I liked it,” he told reporters during his command’s deterrence symposium in Omaha, Neb.
Hyten had urged the Air Force to develop the roadmap. “The country, our nation’s political leadership and those that are doing the mission every day need to understand what the roadmap is in the future,” the general said.
The most recent such document was released by the Air Force’s Air Combat Command in 1999, when the U.S. military seemed to face far fewer threats than it does today, said Lt. Col. Uriah Orland, a spokesman for Air Force Global Strike Command. The new roadmap, also called the “bomber vector,” will have both classified and unclassified sections.
Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, vice commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, told reporters that Air Force senior leaders are reviewing studies that suggest the service needs to grow its bomber fleet to about 175 aircraft, up from 159 bombers today. The 175 bombers would consist of an already planned fleet of at least 100 B-21s, plus a still-to-be-decided mix of legacy aircraft.
“Our combatant commander requirements will define … what that mix will be,” Tibbets said.
