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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
For B-21, Quantity Is Its Most Critical Quality Top Bomber Officer Says
For all the new capabilities the B-21 Raider will bring as an individual aircraft, the U.S. Air Force's top bomber officer says he is most excited about the sheer numbers of those aircraft that are set to enter service in the coming years. The Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities underscored how vital existing B-2 stealth bombers are to U.S. national security, but also the inherent limitations imposed by how few of them were ever built. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost touched on the B-21 and related topics during an online talk that the Air & Space Forces Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosted today. Armagost is the commander of the Eighth Air Force, to which the Air Force's current B-2, B-1, and B-52 bombers are all assigned, as well as the officer in charge of the Joint-Global Strike Operations Center (J-GSOC) at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. At present, the Air Force plans to acquire at least 100 B-21s, but senior U.S. military officials have been increasingly advocating for a fleet of 145 of the bombers. A single pre-production Raider is now in flight testing, with a second expected to join it soon. At least four other B-21s are in various stages of production, and a number of non-flying airframes are being used to support ongoing test work. The Raider is expected to eventually replace the Air Force's current fleet of 19 B-2 bombers, as well as its more than 40 remaining B-1s. 'So, the B 21, … it's in flight test now, it's a phenomenal capability,' Maj. Gen. Armagost said today. In 'the job prior to this … I was interacting with acquisition, RCO [the Air Force Rapid Capbilities Office], and Northrop Grumman in how we work together to drive the concepts, drive the requirements, drive the fielding and the manufacture, actually, of this airplane, so that it can become something different when we have it in numbers.' 'That's what I'm most excited about,' he continued. 'Sixth-generation stealth brings with it, it brings its own set of pretty amazing capabilities, but what I'm most excited about is the ability to build a campaign force.' In addition to its advanced broadband low-observable (stealthy) characteristics, the B-21 is expected to have an extremely long unrefueled range enabled by a highly efficient airframe optimized for high-altitude flight and advanced engines. This will notably impact the demand for aerial refueling tanker support during operations. As TWZ often points out, the B-21 will really be more than just a bomber with its extensive suite of networking, battle management, electronic warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The Raider could act as an aerial controller for uncrewed platforms in the future, too. The B-21 is smaller than the existing B-2, and will carry less ordnance per sortie as a result. The Raider is also not exquisite in all ways, with the design understood to be a balance between proven technology, as well as evolutionary and revolutionary developments, to create a capable platform that is affordable and sustainable. Keeping to schedule and cost targets has been a central focus of the program from the beginning. 'If we get our numerical force build-out correct, which is always going to be a thing we have to be concerned about, we can build a campaign tempo. We can build diversity of munitions and options for attack. We can build out a range of capabilities that not only hold one theater at risk in conflict, but can be a ready force available if there's … [other] things that are taking place around the globe,' he explained. 'I think it really does involve a diverse set of capabilities that are able to access contested or denied space together in different ways. And actually, the different ways piece is very important, and it requires adversaries to rethink their investments or be punished for the investments they have made, and how they try and deny airspace or deny our access to an airspace.' As part of this discussion, Armagost briefly highlighted the forthcoming F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter as another important component of that future 'campaign force.' The B-21 is itself just one part of a larger Long-Range Strike (LRS) family of systems, details about which remain heavily classified, as you can learn more about here. The best known other element of the LRS ecosystem is the still-in-development nuclear-armed and stealthy Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) cruise missile. Armagost also used Operation Midnight Hammer as a real-world metric for the scale and scope of future missions he is envisioning. 'We got a lot of attention, I would say, for seven [B-2] aircraft, 14 aviators, flying a global power mission for hours and hours, right? But what goes past that is that there were 125 aircraft involved in that [Operation Midnight Hammer]. There was a global push to really make that happen in a way that showed we can access in ways that are surprising and interesting,' he said. 'All of that tracks into that moment where that [deeply buried hardened targets like Iran's nuclear facilities] can be now held at risk with assurance, with real predictability. And so it does go beyond that kind of, that flash moment of 14 aviators and seven airplanes, in that case, back to the system that is built that makes that possible. It really does involve a system of systems, and we can't assume that that is going to be a given.' To reiterate, the Air Force has 19 B-2s, so seven of them represent just over a third of the entire fleet. That number also doesn't include the B-2s that flew out in the Pacific as part of an elaborate deception effort to support the operation against Iran, or spares set aside in case any of the bombers had to abort after launch. In general, the B-2 fleet is also notoriously maintenance-intensive, and not all of them are ever available for operational taskings at any one time. TWZ's Tyler Rogoway previously highlighted how almost the entire available B-2 force was committed to Operation Midnight Hammer. Nearly the entire available B-2 fleet was used in this gambit, if you factor in the decoys in the Pacific (were actually there?). A portion of the tiny fleet is down for maintenance or in depot at any given time, although they had time to ready what they could. One test jet etc. — Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) June 22, 2025 During the talk today, Armagost further highlighted the small size of the B-2 fleet and acknowledged questions about the Air Force's current ability to execute missions like Midnight Hammer at any appreciable tempo, as well as the potential risks this raises, especially when it comes to nuclear deterrence. In addition to the unique conventional strike capability the B-2 offers, especially when paired with 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker busters, which were first employed operationally in the strikes on Iran, the bombers are a key component of America's nuclear arsenal. 'It's somewhat miraculous to me, actually, that we even have 19 B-2s at this point, because, you think about when that airplane was fielded, and in the [post-Cold War] 'peace dividend' that could have gone to zero very easily,' he said. 'The original plan was for 132 B-2s to ultimately replace the B-52. Clearly, that didn't happen, and the fact that we have 19 was again, somewhat of a minor miracle.' It should be noted here that the Air Force originally expected to buy 165 aircraft as part of the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) program, which led to the B-2, before that number shrank first to 132, and then down to just 21. The current fleet of 19 reflects the total loss of two of the bombers in separate mishaps in 2008 and 2022. 'My position as [head of] the numbered Air Force for bombers, right, is, I can never assume that any single strike is going to be enough,' Armagost continued. 'Many might imagine we would get to inhale a little bit on June 23 [after Operation Midnight Hammer], and that was not the case, right? We had to be ready for what was the next question to be asked, or what was the next problem to be confronted.' 'In this specific case, it resulted in a ceasefire about 30 hours after the strike,' he noted. 'You can't count on that, though.' In particular, sustaining B-2 combat operations in the Pacific during any future high-end fight with China would be very challenging. A much larger fleet of B-21s will allow for great overall flexibility, including for supporting a more persistent forward presence, if needed, as well as less predictability. Expected greater reliability and lower maintenance and sustainment demands will also help contribute to a higher operational tempo for the Raider. Speaking more broadly, and in the context of potentially being called upon to execute nuclear strikes, 'you have to be able to operate on the worst day that the world has ever seen, not even just our nation has ever seen, but the worst day the world has ever seen,' the Eighth Air Force Command explained. 'We have to be able to operate, because if we can't, then that calls into question our very ability to deter.' Armagost took this opportunity to also underscore his view of the importance of 'organic kill chains,' which is to say his command's ability to execute missions in a highly independent manner if required, especially due to any loss of connections with various critical networks. 'On the worst day ever, where there's been attacks in space or [an] electromagnetic pulse, where communications or GPS, for example, are denied, it is not optional for a nuclear-capable bomber to get to a target and hold it at risk. So you have to have, inherent to the systems on the airplane, the ability to know where you are, know kind of your status, and your ability to command and control and communicate,' he said. 'Any resilience you gain from the long-range kill chain or long-range nuclear command and control communications is a bonus, and it actually increases your ability to deter.' As it stands now, the Air Force's goal is for the B-21 to begin entering operational service before the end of the decade. Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota is set to be the first operational Raider base, with the new bombers replacing B-1s stationed there now. At least a portion of the pre-production B-21 test fleet could form part of this initial operational force. The operational B-2 fleet also includes a number of aircraft originally built as test jets. In the meantime, the Air Force's top office in charge of the service's bomber fleets is already eager to begin reaping the benefits that the Raider fleet will bring, including just by virtue of its overall size. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Volunteers no longer needed to take Mighty Eighth flags down
POOLER, Ga. (WSAV) — Due to the threat of bad weather, the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force staff will remove the flags from their Flags for the Fallen tribute. 'We are so grateful to everyone who took the time to volunteer this year,' said Dawn Brosnan, Director of Communications and Marketing. 'Your dedication ensures that the service and sacrifice of these airmen are never forgotten.' Nearly 300 volunteers came together to help install 26,000 flags, honoring the Eighth Air Force airmen who lost their lives during World War II. All of the flags were placed in under two hours — the fastest time in the program's history. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Volunteers wanted for Flags for the Fallen
POOLER, Ga. (WSAV) — The National Musuem of the Mighty Eighth Air Force is seeking volunteers for Flags for the Fallen. Volunteers will place 26,000 48-star flags in the memorial flag garden on Wednesday, May 21 and assist in flag removal on Tuesday, May 27. (In case of inclement weather, there will be a rain date of Thursday, May 22 to place the flags.) The flags honor the 26, 000 airmen of the Eighth Air Force who never returned home. The powerful memorial flag garden will be open to the public from Friday, May 23 through Memorial Day, May 26. Click here to volunteer. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSAV-TV.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The P-51 Mustang and the man who won the World War II air war with it
For the Allied forces, the skies over Europe from 1942 to 1943 brought near ruinous casualty numbers. The odds of a B-17 crewman surviving the 25 missions required to complete a tour were only one in four. Casualties totaled among the tens of thousands. Amid the carnage, one of America's gilded elite stepped forward, and without his near fanatical guidance, America's bombing campaign against Germany may well have failed — with the Allied plans for D-Day postponed or potentially scrubbed all together. Tommy Hitchcock, one of America's most renowned polo players and the youngest American to win a pilot's commission during the First World War, has become the archetype of the potency of individual human achievement. Born on Feb. 11, 1900, in Aiken, South Carolina, the soft-spoken Hitchcock rose to prominence for his aggressive, hard charging ways during polo matches. His marriage to a Mellon family heiress in 1928 only helped to cement his celebrity status. Actor David Bruce called Hitchcock the 'only perfect man he had ever met,' while F. Scott Fitzgerald modeled two characters after him — writing that the athlete-turned successful businessman was 'high in my pantheon of heroes.' During World War I, the teenaged Hitchcock downed two German planes — for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre — before being shot down inside German territory on March 6, 1918. Badly wounded, Hitchcock spent several months recuperating inside a German POW camp before, according to author Lynn Olson's account in 'Citizens of London,' the 18-year-old pilot, who was in transit to another camp, 'stole a map from a sleeping guard and leaped from the train. Escaping detection, he hiked nearly a hundred miles to neutral Switzerland.' Upon America's entry into the Second World War, the 41-year-old volunteered his services as a fighter pilot but was turned down personally by Gen. Hap Arnold, chief of staff of the U.S. Army Air Forces, for being above the flying age. Frustrated, the well-connected Hitchcock turned to his old friend John Gilbert Winant, who was, at that time, the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. Winant, according to Olson, suggested that the polo player-turned-fighter pilot-turned investment banker come to London as assistant U.S. military attaché to act as a liaison between the Eighth Air Force and the Royal Air Force's Fighter command. Hitchcock accepted the job on the spot. After the Great War, the phrase 'total war' carried different connotations. The key idea was no longer national mobilization and its governmental structures, but the erosion of the principle of non-combatant immunity. The new theory permeating the Allied command structures was that Germany was to be crushed via an aerial assault to its core physical and psychological strength. To achieve this, systematic bombing of densely populated industrial areas would be necessary. 'There is one thing that will bring [Hitler] down,' Winston Churchill declared, 'and that is an absolutely devastating, exterminating attack by very heavy bombers from this country upon the Nazi homeland.' Despite these grandiose promises, the RAF's daylight raids on Germany's industrial heartland had done very little damage at the staggering cost to British crews and aircraft. The USAAF under Arnold fared little better. Despite Arnold's belief in America's superlative technology and aircraft — thanks to the ultra-secret Norden bombsight that allowed bombardiers to hit industrial targets with surgical precision — the American bombing raids in 1942-43 mirrored the efforts of their British counterparts. 'We just closed our minds to [long-range escorts],' Gen. Laurence S. Kuter, a deputy under Arnold, said after the war. 'We couldn't be stopped. The bomber was invincible.' Despite this theory espoused by USAAF brass, the unescorted B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers could not protect themselves against enemy fighters alone. But at the time, no American fighter had the range to accompany the bombers deep into enemy territory. Tens of thousands of American crewman were killed as a result, with nearly 75 percent killed, severely wounded or captured in 1943 alone. To the Air Force brass, 'the important thing ... was to establish a presence, to prove a doctrine, to state out a position in public consciousness. If this cost the lives of many fine young men and inflicted no really serious damage on Germany's fighting capability, that was too bad,' American journalist Harrison Salisbury later wrote. Hitchcock disagreed with such dogma. 'His modus operandi was vastly different from the Eighth's leaders,' Olson wrote. 'He thought it far more important to cooperate with — and perhaps learn from — the RAF than to compete with it.' It was during this time that Hitchcock made a trip to Duxford, an RAF development facility, where he learned about a promising new American fighter produced solely for the British — the P-51 Mustang. Conceived by a German émigré who had once designed Messerschmitt fighters before fleeing to America, the P-51 was built by California's North American Aviation Co. and had an initial use planned for the RAF as low-level tactical fighter-bomber. Hitchcock was stunned. The performance of the P-51, when fitted with a British Merlin engine, could 'go as fast and as far as the bombers without losing its fighting characteristics,' historian Donald Miller wrote. It was, he noted, 'the plane the Bomber Mafia had claimed was impossible to build.' Despite this, Hitchcock's superiors remained unimpressed and rejected the introduction of the American-British hybrid fighter. 'Sired by the English out of an American mother, the Mustang had no parent in the [Air Force] ... to appreciate and push its good points,' Hitchcock wrote in 1942. The Mustang, however, would soon find an adopted parent in Hitchcock. The former fighter pilot became relentless in his quest to adapt the aircraft into the best fighter on the Western Front. From flooding Washington with the plane's sterling test performance statistics to hosting lavish parties to drum up support for the Mustang among well-connected friends, Hitchcock did it all — including taking the new plane for a spin himself. Yet despite his best efforts, Arnold roundly denied Hitchcock's attempts to flood the USAAF with the newcomer. 'The word channels, like the word no, was an utterance he sometimes could not hear well,' Hitchcock's biographer Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. observed. 'He planned on going straight to the top.' Flying into Washington in November 1942, Hitchcock called on an old friend from the Great War, undersecretary of war Robert Lovett. The latter happened to be one of Arnold's civilian bosses. Lovett, who had flown British planes during World War I, agreed with Hitchcock's assessment of the plane and the necessity for long-distance escorts, and pressed hard for Arnold to adopt the Mustang. Arnold reluctantly acquiesced, ordering some 2,200 P-51Bs in late 1942. Despite the order being of the highest priority, the production of the plane lagged, and Arnold with his hands 'tied by his mouth' according to Lovett, did very little to press the matter. An incensed Hitchcock screamed into action, repeatedly making trips to the U.S. in 1943 to press for the swift production of the fighter escort. Meanwhile, throughout the summer and fall of 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces struggled to staunch its losses. In the span of only a few days in October, the USAAF was forced to reconsider its entire strategic bombing endeavor in the European theater, according to the National World War II Museum. Carnage on Oct. 8 over the German U-boat yards at Bremen and aircraft factories at Vegesack, as well as intense action on Oct. 9 near at a Focke-Wulf aircraft plant at Marienburg, culminated in the devastating Oct. 10 raid on Munster. Of the 275 planes that set out towards Munster, 30 did not return. Among the heavy losses were those of the 100th Bomb Group. Losing 12 out of 13 planes, the 100th earned its 'Bloody' nickname at the cost of nearly the entire squadron in a single mission. In the face of such heavy losses, Hitchcock's doggedness was about to pay off. On Jan. 11, 1944, three months after the slaughter over Munster, the tide of the air war was about to turn. The P-51 would soon give a command performance. As a B-17 formation headed for a Focke-Wulf factory a few dozen miles from Berlin, they were greeted by the stomach sinking sound of enemy fighters. This time, however, the heavy bombers were not such easy prey. As Olson recounts: 'The Focke-Wulf pilots were dumbfounded: never before had an Allied fighter challenged the Luftwaffe so far inside Germany,' Olson recounted. 'For more than half an hour, the single Mustang, piloted by Major James Howard, weaved and bobbed, dived and climbed, in its furious attack on the Focke-Wulfs… Sixty Allied bombers were lost on that January 11 mission, but not one plane went down from the group defended by Howard.' Maj. Howard would later be presented the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary efforts during the fight. While five months would elapse before the Mustang would arrive in large numbers over the skies of Europe, the tide would finally begin to turn in April and May of 1944 — mere months before the Allied assault in Normandy. Hitchcock would never see the end of the war, nor his key contribution come to fruition. He was killed while piloting his beloved P-51 during a test run in 1944 in Wiltshire, England. 'The story of the P-51,″ the official wartime history of the USAAF declared, 'came close to representing the costliest mistake made by the Army Air Forces in World War II.' Yet, thanks in large part to Hitchcock, when soldiers and sailors looked to the skies over Normandy while storming the beaches at Utah and Omaha, any fighter aircraft they spotted was decidedly American. In a 1945 post-war interrogation, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring recounted the moment he knew Germany had lost the war. 'The first time your bombers came over Hanover, escorted by fighters, I began to be worried,' he said. 'When they came with fighter escorts over Berlin, I knew the jig was up.'
Korea Herald
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
US can respond in 'overwhelming' way in case of NK ICBM attack: official
A senior US military official warned Wednesday that America can respond in an "overwhelming" way in the "time, place and manner of our choosing" in the event of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile attack as he underscored the strength of the United States' nuclear deterrence system. Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, the commander of the Eighth Air Force and of the Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, made the remarks, responding to a question regarding what would happen to America's nuclear umbrella for South Korea when North Korea successfully acquires bombs capable of striking the continental US. "It is problematic for them (North Korea) to have an ICBM ... With current and imaginable capabilities, it is extremely difficult to attack that system of systems," Armagost said during a forum hosted by The Korea Society, a non-profit organization based in New York. "What that system allows us to do is to say that use of an ICBM would not result in the benefit that you are seeking because we can respond in a way that is overwhelming in the time and place and manner of our choosing," he added. Armagost was referring to the US' nuclear triad system consisting of ICBMs, strategic bombers and submarine-launched ballistic missiles -- three key nuclear delivery vehicles. "It's why we have a triad: ICBMs on alert, SLBMs for an assured second strike capability and bombers to be a forward and, or visible presence with regards to that ... what the triad does for a spectrum of capability for strategic deterrence," he said. A second strike capability refers to a nuclear retaliatory strike capability that remains alive even after a country sustains a first nuclear strike from an enemy. An SLBM is the centerpiece of that capability. The official underscored the importance of maintaining a "resilient" triad system. "The numbers of ICBMs matter greatly. The numbers of on-alert submarine-launched capabilities matter greatly. And the numbers of bombers matter," he said. "Because unless you have a resilient system, the triad becomes a tricky thing." Pyongyang's push to have credible ICBM missile capabilities have raised concerns that the US might dither on coming to the aid of its treaty ally, South Korea, as it could fear that continental American cities would become a target of a North Korean ICBM attack. To dispel such concerns, Seoul and Washington have been working to strengthen the credibility of America's "extended deterrence" commitment to South Korea in recent years through a set of measures, including the Nuclear Consultative Group, the allies' key nuclear deterrence body. To further deepen deterrence cooperation, the allies have been pushing for a "conventional-nuclear integration" initiative under which South Korea mobilizes its conventional military assets to back America's nuclear operations in a crisis scenario. Whether such training cooperation would continue to develop remains to be seen as during his first term, President Donald Trump described military exercises between the two allies as "expensive." In a separate press event later in the day, Armagost described allied efforts to work together in an integrated manner as a "powerful" thing, while refusing to comment specifically on examples of CNI operations between Seoul and Washington. "When I talk about habitual training and planning and exercise relationships, what we see is the ability to seamlessly integrate those operations across the spectrum of conflict all the way from competition activities through crisis and conflict," he said during the event hosted by the Foreign Press Center in New York. "That relationship of working together, planning together and operating militarily together is an extremely powerful thing to practice and to conduct. So that translates all the way from conventional operations to nuclear operations." (Yonhap)
