U.S. Air Force needs new next-gen Stealth Bomber

The United States has counted on bombers for tough missions for decades, but the U.S. Air Force bomber fleet will struggle to do its job as a capability void opens after 2015.

Talk of a new bomber has come in fits and starts since the U.S. Department of Defense moved to curtail the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit program more than 15 years ago. However, new threat assessments and the relative decline of older systems have made a new program urgent.

According to Gen. John D.W. Corley, commander, Air Combat Command, direct attack of mobile or moving targets will grow difficult after 2015 and the new threat environment will be at full flush by 2020.

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