Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
@Seal of Lion
There are enough air bases in Japan available for use in a conflict with the PRC that involves Japan. Midair refuelling kits for transport aircraft are relatively cheap and simple, even a kit for USAF-style refuelling is possible if the rear ramp is replaced.
A conflict with the PRC that doesn't involve Japan couldn't be "won" anyways, unless it's solely about air/sea action. And in that case one shouldn't and wouldn't bomb the continental PRC.
A B-1/B-2 mix would not be capable of operations against PRC or Russia without support by fighters, so any range advantage over fighters would have negligible utility.
The cheerleader-for-hire Loren Thompson has used the airliner price comparison a while ago, but it's bollocks. An A380 is a profitable investment for airlines at its price. A bomber isn't profitable, it's destructive with no sales. Its utility is solely in what it does militarily, and at USD 550 million (likely to grow to almost a billion) it will compete with great many more promising alternatives, such as infrastructure investments, spending on training, spending on ammunition war stocks, spending on replacing a gazillion small things that are 30+ years old in the military, spending on upgrades, forgiving student debt, reducing the deficit, ...
The United States have become accustomed to an excessive level of military power ambition. It's fiscally and macroeconomically necessary to at least tone the military power ambitions down to the level before the 9/11 hysteria.
May 29, 2015, 4:06:58 AM
Posted to I Believe the First Hit Piece Against the LRS-B Has Been Written