DOD Plans To Cut Number of B-52s

In one single line in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the DOD has disclosed that they are planning to cut the number of B-52 bombers by 40 percent, from 94 to 56.

The decision is not going down well in Congress.

The Air Force wants to pour those savings into upgrading the remaining B-52s, as well as B-1 and B-2 bombers. Much of lawmakers' arguments will center on the fact that B-52s, first fielded in 1955, cost half as much to fly as the B-1.

"Given our huge budget problem, it would make sense to me to keep the most efficient bombers in the fleet," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who last year helped restore B-52 money in the fiscal 2006 budget.

No secret why Dorgan opposes the DOD plan:

The Louisiana and North Dakota delegations, whose states are home to the entire fleet of B-52s, have successfully thwarted previous efforts to retire portions of the fleet. They are wasting no time gearing up for another battle. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., discussed the issue Tuesday with leaders at Minot Air Force Base, the North Dakota home to 35 B-52Hs.

It would be unwise "to fly them off to the graveyard when we don't have a replacement and we still face contingencies that could require us to be in action half a world away in Iraq and at the same time be involved in some other distant part of the globe," Conrad told CongressDaily. The upgraded planes are in shape to fly until 2037, he added.

The Defense Department loves to buy new stuff.

In a few years, they will be begging for a bunch of the newer bombers. It will then turn out that we shouldn't have mothballed the BUFs.

Kinda like what happened with the SR-71s.