Word: bomber
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...range to the proposed MX; the other is mobile, similar in concept to what some analysts have proposed for the U.S. The Soviets are also trying to counter U.S. naval superiority with a nuclear carrier resembling the Nimitz and missile-carrying nuclear submarines comparable to the Tridents. The Blackjack bomber is intended to fill the role proposed for America's B-1B. Two new fighter jets being developed by the Soviets, the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker, are to contain high-tech radar and weapons-guidance avionics like those...
...focus attention on the need to build weapons that will work and to develop doctrines that are adaptable to fighting the battles of the future. It has also addressed the widespread evidence of waste and mismanagement in military spending, whether for major strategic systems like the B-l bomber or basic weapons such as tanks and rifles. The reformers argue that new systems should be carefully examined not only for what they can do on paper, but what they can do in actual combat-and at what cost. The central question: how to get more bang for the buck...
...Much of the debate about the B-1B intercontinental bomber revolves around price: Will the 100 new bombers that the Air Force wants to buy cost $200 million each, as the Pentagon figures, $285 million each, as a team of retired generals who studied Air Force procurement guesses, some figure in between or possibly something even higher? But there is another, at least equally troubling, question: Will the most expensive plane ever built-and the B-1Bs will be that by anyone's estimate-do a significantly better job of penetrating Soviet air defenses in case of nuclear...
...aboard B-52s at a small cost. In sum, whatever edge the B-1B might have over the B-52 would be purchased at an exorbitant cost for a few years between 1985, when large-scale deliveries would begin, and the early 1990s, when an all-new Stealth bomber could be available...
Something else the Soviets can buy if they accept the American approach, says Rowny, is "the opportunity to talk further about our follow-on weapons, in which we have a technological advantage over them, such as cruise missiles and the ATB [Advanced Technology, or Stealth, radar-invisible bomber]." So far, however, the U.S. is not offering specific restrictions in those future systems to match the very specific cuts it is demanding in the existing Soviet weapons...