B-2 Pilot’s Lessons For LRSB, America’s New Bomber

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/09/b-2-pilots-lessons-for-lrsb-americas-new-bomber/

B-2 Pilot’s Lessons For LRSB, America’s New Bomber
By Lt. Col. Jeff Schreiner on September 16, 2014 at 2:20 PM

The Air Force very quietly released a Request for Proposal (RFP) this summer for the new Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B). With a purported fly away cost of $550 million per aircraft — but with estimates up to $810 million — the LRS-B will be one of the largest acquisition programs in history with broad strategic implications to the end of this century. Although I am not privy to the RFP, as a career stealth bomber pilot I believe the B-2 program can provide important lessons for this new program. Stealth technology is unique in many ways. We should learn from past struggles as we start at the ground floor of this new platform.

~snip~

Resist research and development cost overruns: About 80 percent of stealth capability depends on the aircraft’s shape and design. The real cost comes in chasing the last 20 percent with cutting edge materials and technology. The B-2 evolved over the years to make it more maintainable, but few improvements were made in its baseline stealth signature. A focus on getting the overall shape right coupled with a balanced approach to pushing the technological boundaries can help significantly to control costs.

Make it sustainable and maintainable: Closely related to materials and technology is overall sustainability. A 90 percent solution using easily maintained low observable materials creates a vastly better warfighting machine than an edge-of-the-envelope design that is difficult and expensive to maintain. The technical edge lost can be more than offset by good planning. To a stealth pilot, mission planning is life. I’d take a small hit on cutting edge technology if the tradeoff is a reliable low observable signature I can use consistently for planning. We need to resist the urge to make the new plane exquisite and focus on making it a reliable bombing platform that can fly for the next half century or longer.

Decide now on the nuclear mission: The Air Force currently plans to certify the LRS-B as nuclear capable at a later date. This is feasible given the current force structure, but the nuclear mission must play a central role in the aircraft’s design from the start, as we’ve seen what happens when we slight this critical mission area. Build this aircraft as a true dual-role weapons system — don’t try to just add the nuclear mission in later. At least 50 of the baseline 100 aircraft should be nuclear capable to pick up the mission as the B-52 finally heads off into the sunset around 2040. Making an aircraft survivable in the nuclear environment comes with significant costs, not just in dollars, but in terms of tradeoffs of hardware capability to ensure its ability to operate in adverse environments. Reengineering the jet at a later date will result in high costs across the board. When the aircraft actually gets certified for nuclear use is a question of policy. But building the right number with nuclear capability is the question that must be answered before LRS-B starts to come off the assembly line.

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We The People lessons from buying the B-2:



$2.6 billion dollars o stealth

Besides being expensive to buy,

...

A procurement of 132 aircraft was planned in the mid-1980s, but was later reduced to 75.[28] By the early 1990s, the Soviet Union dissolved, effectively eliminating the Spirit's primary Cold War mission. Under budgetary pressures and Congressional opposition, in his 1992 State of the Union Address, President George H.W. Bush announced B-2 production would be limited to 20 aircraft.[29] In 1996, however, the Clinton administration, though originally committed to ending production of the bombers at 20 aircraft, authorized the conversion of a 21st bomber, a prototype test model, to Block 30 fully operational status at a cost of nearly $500 million.[30]

In 1995, Northrop made a proposal to the USAF to build 20 additional aircraft with a flyaway cost of $566 million each.[31]

The program was the subject of public controversy for its cost to American taxpayers. In 1996, the General Accounting Office (GAO) disclosed that the USAF's B-2 bombers "will be, by far, the most costly bombers to operate on a per aircraft basis", costing over three times as much as the B-1B (US$9.6 million annually) and over four times as much as the B-52H ($US6.8 million annually). In September 1997, each hour of B-2 flight necessitated 119 hours of maintenance in turn. Comparable maintenance needs for the B-52 and the B-1B are 53 and 60 hours respectively for each hour of flight. A key reason for this cost is the provision of air-conditioned hangars large enough for the bomber's 172 ft (52.4 m) wingspan, which are needed to maintain the aircraft's stealthy properties, particularly its "low-observable" stealthy skins.[32][33] Maintenance costs are about $3.4 million a month for each aircraft.[34]

The total "military construction" cost related to the program was projected to be US$553.6 million in 1997 dollars. The cost to procure each B-2 was US$737 million in 1997 dollars, based only on a fleet cost of US$15.48 billion.[3] The procurement cost per aircraft as detailed in GAO reports, which include spare parts and software support, was $929 million per aircraft in 1997 dollars.[3]

The total program cost projected through 2004 was US$44.75 billion in 1997 dollars. This includes development, procurement, facilities, construction, and spare parts. The total program cost averaged US$2.13 billion per aircraft.[3] The B-2 may cost up to $135,000 per flight hour to operate in 2010, which is about twice that of the B-52 and B-1.[35][36]

[jollyreaper2112]

1. oh for fuck's sake

We don't need any more bombers. The whole latest generation of aircraft across all services have been nothing more than giant boondoggles of pork and missed deliverables.

You know what should replace the F-16? The F-16, incorporating whatever improvements in avionics and materials that make sense. You know what should replace the A-10? Same thing.

They're doing this with the latest Herky Bird.

The Lockheed Martin C-130J "Super" Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The Hercules family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. During more than 50 years of service, the family has participated in military, civilian, and humanitarian aid operations. The Hercules has outlived several planned successor designs, most notably the Advanced Medium STOL Transport contestants. Fifteen nations have placed orders for a total of 300 C-130Js, of which 250 aircraft have been delivered as of February 2012.[5]

We're in a goddamn arms race against ourselves. Nobody else has a plane that can touch the F-15. Oh, we have an F-22, a plane that's killing its pilots because evidently we've forgotten how to make goddamn fucking oxygen bottles, a technology that was perfected back in WWII. Pilots passing out from lack of air? Seriously? Next you'll tell me we can't even make tires that don't explode on landing.

Besides, if you only have a limited number of gold-plated wunderplanes, you can only lose a couple before you no longer have a credible air force. With a quick googling I see as of 2012: “The F-22 inventory is 123 combat-coded, 27 training, 16 test, and 20 attrition reserve. The incident at Tyndall was a training aircraft which brought the number down from 28. There are currently 186 total.” Just in terms of F-15's we have 132 F-15E TOTAL and 342 F-15A/C TOTAL with 100 in storage.

A strong defense is a sensible notion. A military-industrial complex is a bad idea and more dangerous to our democracy and way of life than any imaginary foreign invader.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Maybe that needs its own thread ... conservatism in military spending ? What an idea ! nt

[jollyreaper2112]

3. will never happen

Wasting billions on pointless bullshit is so American, Jesus weeps tears of joy.