---
title: "Why these two Air Force bombers are on the way out"
description: "The Air Force recently announced its plan for when the B-21 Raider enters service, and it is not good news for two of the strategic bombers currently on inventory. While the B-52 will continue to serve until 2050, marking nearly…"
date: "2018-08-17"
modified: "2020-10-22"
authors:
  - name: "Harold C. Hutchison"
    link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/haroldhutchison/"
url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/why-these-two-air-force-bombers-are-on-the-way-out/"
categories:
  - "Air Force"
  - "Aviation"
  - "Military Branches"
  - "Military News"
  - "Tactical"
---

# Why these two Air Force bombers are on the way out

![](<https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/assets.rbl.ms/17491775/origin.jpg>)

The Air Force recently announced its plan for when the B-21 Raider enters service, and it is not good news for two of the strategic bombers currently on inventory. While the B-52 will continue to serve until 2050, marking nearly a century of service, the B-1B Lancer and the B-2A Spirit will be retired as the B-21 comes online.

---

The [Pentagon's plan](<https://www.businessinsider.sg/us-air-forces-budget-retire-b-1-b-2-keep-the-b-52-2018-2/?r=US&IR=T>) gives the B-52 an incredible 98 years of service from first flight to a planned retirement. [An Air Force fact sheet notes](<https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104465/b-52-stratofortress/>) that there are currently 58 B-52H Stratofortress bombers in active service, with another 18 in the Air Force Reserve.

![](<https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/assets.rbl.ms/17491776/origin.jpg>)

The Air Force is [planning to buy as many as 100 Raiders](<https://dailycaller.com/2016/02/28/sen-mccain-threatens-to-down-long-range-strike-bomber-over-contract-issues/>), which could see initial operating capabilities in the middle of the 2020s. Given the Air Force's history of bomber purchases, that number could be concerningly low.

The original production run of the B-2 Spirit was slated to reach 132 airframes but was stopped at 21. Currently, the Air Force has [20 B-2s in the active force](<https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104482/b-2-spirit/>). The B-1A, a predecessor to the Air Force's essential B-1B Lancer, was scheduled for a production run of 270 planes at $102 million each to [replace the B-52 in the late 1970s](<https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-tactical/this-is-how-the-102-million-b-1a-almost-replaced-the-b-52/>). Then-President Jimmy Carter canceled the B-1A in favor of air-launched cruise missiles, but his successor, Ronald Reagan, had 100 B-1Bs built. Currently, the Air Force has [62 B-1Bs in service](<https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104500/b-1b-lancer/>).

![](<https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/assets.rbl.ms/17491777/origin.jpg>)

The Air Force used to have a larger force. "At the end of Desert Storm, in 1991, we had 290 total bombers," the commander of Global Strike Command, General Robin Rand, said in [an Air Force release](<https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1438634/air-force-outlines-future-of-bomber-force/>).

Today, that force has dropped to 157 bombers at five bomb wings and 15 total force bomb squadrons. That's a 46 percent decrease in our bomber force while we have conducted continuous combat operations, such as Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Odyssey Dawn, Inherent Resolve, and Freedom's Sentinel, in addition to continuous bomber rotations in the (U.S. Central Command) and (U.S. Pacific Command) areas of responsibility.

## Author
WATM contributor Harold Hutchison was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national web sites.