Posted on 03/11/2018 10:55:15 AM PDT by BenLurkin
In his address made on March 3rd, 2018 at the Antelope Valley Board of Trade and Business Outlook Conference, which was covered closely by the Antelope Valley Press, General Schaefer made the B-21's future basing crystal clear once and for all:
"For the first time ever, I would like to publicly announce that the B-21 will be tested at Edwards Air Force Base... Edwards has been the home of bomber test and now we also can publicly release that the B-21 is coming to Edwards and we will be testing it here in the near future."
Shaefer went on to say that team Edwards will ramp up its push to ready infrastructure and personnel needed to support the B-21 test initiative, both on the ground and in the air.
...
Such a testing effort will not be transient in nature, either. Beyond primary flight testing and eventually moving the new bomber into an operational test and evaluation phase, with a minimum requirement of 100 Raiders, and considering that the aircraft will be far more capable and flexible than a traditional bomber, and will feature entirely new weapons as well, testing is likely to continue at the base for decades following the jet's initial entry into service.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
I thought the new bomber would be based at Whiteman...
I thought the new bomber would be based at Whiteman...
This is just for testing.
Air Force actually thinks they’ll get 175-200 of them at $550+ million each.
I think Victoria Secret models will be delivering a pizza and beer to me tonight.
Yet another taxpayer funded boondoggle.
The B-1, B-2, F-35, F-22, ICBM/SLBM missile systems, Tomahawks, and other weapon systems have cost the taxpayer trillions, and for what? So we can beat up ragheads armed with rusty rifles??
We spend billions then only make a handful after promises that we’ll buy lots of them to make them cheaper, but then we buy only a handful.
The B-2 cost over $2 billion a copy after we taxpayers paid all the bills. The F-22 has cost over $340 million per airplane. If you include that fact that only 10 of these are flyable at any given time, we the taxpayers paid $4 billion per flying copy.
The NRO/USAF has paid over $10 billion for one satellite program alone that got canceled, and there have been multiple of these. Several key space program are now over $10 billion over budget.
National defense spending is necessary; Military Industrial Complex spending is not.
BTW, the new National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB), a 2015 invention to improve the lousy security clearance review processes, is now over 700,000 background investigations behind with more added every month.
The B-21 program is suffering from that and cannot get anyone a clearance. Everyone recruited must have a current clearance. All classified program are experiencing this. Recruiters are going nuts trying to recruit enough people with current clearances because the NBIB cannot process any new ones. That is costing we the Taxpayers even more money because companies are being paid when workers cannot work or compensated when workers cannot be found.
We need to put the brakes on any and all new development programs for 25 years until we’ve used what we’ve already paid for.
“I think Victoria Secret models will be delivering a pizza and beer to me tonight.”
For the costs of these failed program, the USAF could pay for a Vickies secret model to do just that.
Plant 42 has been pretty active lately, I can see it and Edwards from the top of my mountain.
Production of the M1 Abrams has ceased and there is no replacement.
Ticonderoga cruisers are wearing out and there in no replacement.
Marine AAV’s are wearing out and there is no replacement.
And the Air Force wants yet another bomber to sneak up on Habib hiding in a hole in Syria...
So we can beat up ragheads armed with rusty rifles??
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I guess Russia and China don’t count, not to mention North Korea. “Strength through weakness” - that was Obama’s motto. There’s a new guy in office now who seems to believe the opposite ... as do most of us.
... when it becomes operational, maybe... probably. I imagine there’s a lot of acceptance and weapons testing before that can happen. That spells Edwards AFB.
You have a point... right up until the next major war and we’re entering that period right now. 100 years between major wars seems to be the established pattern. The British Army and French Armies prior to WW1 were very professional and very experienced at small colonial wars. The Kaiser’s Army dealt a near death blow to both in 1914. Point is: you don’t necessarily get to chose the fight if your enemy brings it to you.
Russia is piling on hours on combat aircraft they can't replace since the Cold War and are now out of smart bombs.
North Korea uses ancient Vietnam era equipment like Chinese knockoffs of the Mig-17/19 and SA-2/3.
And China? Those land wars in Asia have turned out real well since 1950...
Politically incorrect.
Strength doesn’t come from unfettered spending. That actually leads to weakness.
When we spend uncontrollably on billion dollar boondoggles, the shooters don’t get bullets and the tanks and ships don’t get maintenance.
So, before you insult people and underhandedly claim they don’t want strength, you might want to grow up and realize that unlike what children believe, money doesn’t grow on trees and we need to spend wisely.
It is unwise spend everything on a handful of pet projects to the detriment of core functionality like bullets and maintenance.
The Navy is put buying billion dollar “littoral” ships and the Air Force is buying billion dollar bombers; both are out of control spending.
Congratulations Toad, you win the daily ad hominum prize!
“right up until the next major war and we’re entering that period right now. “
You want to place your entire national defense in a few airplanes that can easily be shot down or fail to fly due to ridiculous maintenance schedules??
You talk about 100 year wars, yet you fail to recognize the Germans were defeated in part in WWII because quantity is a quality all it sown and they spent time, money, and resources on bleeding edge weapons that allowed them only to buy a few.
“Congratulations Toad, you win the daily ad hominum prize!”
No, you do since you don’t know what “ad hominum” means, much less how to spell “ad hominum”.
“ad hominem”
Whiteman AFB and the 509th will get the B-21.
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