U.S. Air Force White Paper on Long Range Bobers

By Department of Defense

Book Id: WPLBN0000072560
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 1.0 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	U.S. Air Force White Paper on Long Range Bobers
Author:	Department of Defense
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Military, Armed Forces., National defense.
Collections:	Military and Armed Forces Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Department of Defense


Citation APA MLA Chicago Defense, D. O. (n.d.). U.S. Air Force White Paper on Long Range Bobers. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Government Reference Publication

Excerpt
Excerpt: This paper addresses Congressional language from the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, 1999 (Report 105-591) and the National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 1999 (Report 105-532). These reports directed the Department of Defense (D.O.D.) and the Air Force to prepare a comprehensive plan for the future of the long-range bomber force. The plan should identify bomber upgrades with associated funding profiles and include a timeline for consideration of the acquisition of a follow-on platform. To this end, this document describes the long-range bombers’ significance in protecting U.S. national security interests and articulates the Air Force vision of long-range bomber employment in support of national security and military strategy. From this vision emerges an overall concept of operations, both current and evolving, that harnesses the potential of longrange bomber capabilities integrated across the full spectrum of conflict. To ensure the continued viability of the long-range bomber fleet, this roadmap identifies near, mid, and long term modernization priorities with the intent of guiding current and future funding strategies. Finally, a timeline is presented for consideration of the acquisition of a follow-on platform.

Table of Contents
CONTENTS GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Section 1. PURPOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. HISTORY OF POST COLD WAR BOMBER REQUIREMENT . . . 2 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Current and Planned Bomber Force Structure . . . . . . . . . 2 3. CURRENT STATUS OF BOMBERS WITH UPGRADES AND REQUIREMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Programmed Upgrades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Future Modernization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Additional Needed Near Term Upgrades. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Desired Mid Term Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Candidate Long Term Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Fact Of Life Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Emerging Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4. VISION: PGMs ARE THE FUTURE – CURRENT STATUS OF PGM PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 Current Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 Future Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 5. DISCUSSION OF CURRENT AND FUTURE CONOPS . . . . . 1 3 Bomber Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 Current CONOPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 Missions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 Employment Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 Individual Capabilities of Platforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 Evolving CONOPS: Implications of future CONOPS for bomber upgrades beyond [the] FYDP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 6. BOMBER LONGEVITY / REPLACEMENT TIMELINE . . . . . 2 0 B-1 Service Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 B-2 Service Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 B-52 Service Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 Replacement Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 Pressures on the Replacement Timeline: Implications of future CONOPS for service life and service life extension . . . . . . . 2 2 Next Generation Global Attack Capability: Implication of service life and future CONOPS for new aircraft, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, missile, or space platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 7. SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4