Phantom bombers weigh down military budget

By Michael Hoffman / DOD Buzz.com
December 27th, 2012
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The Pentagon is under intense pressure to find inefficiencies in its spending. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the military has a responsibility to rid itself of wasteful spending, especially as Congress tries to come to an agreement to reduce spending and lower the federal deficit.

One place the Pentagon ought to look is its nuclear enterprise, said Hans Kristensen, a noted nuclear expert with the Federation of American Scientists. He pointed specifically at the Air Force’s nuclear bomber fleet.

It’s within that fleet that fleet the Air Force maintains 141 nuclear bombers, but only 60 remain in the nuclear mission. The other 91 remain counted as nuclear capable, deployed bombers, yet most are not even stationed at an active base.

The Air Force maintains a nuclear capable bomber fleet that includes the B-1, B-2 and B-52. It’s the B-1 and B-52 that makes up the majority of the phantom bombers that continue to weigh down the military’s budget.

These phantom bombers cost the military extra money because of their nuclear capability. This certification forces the Air Force to maintain standards on the number of bombers in their fleet if they are still listed. This costs money even if the Air Force has no plans to use them in that role.

A request for comment from the Air Force was not returned.

These bombers also count against the U.S. under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed in 2010 by the U.S. and Russia. The treaty dictates that both countries must remain under the 700 deployed nuclear capable missiles and bombers.

Deactivating these bombers and removing them from the nuclear capable list would save the Air Force money, Kristensen. It’s unclear why the military has chosen not to deactivate them.

Of course, the Air Force has worked hard the past five years to get their nuclear bomber fleet in order after the embarrassing 2007 episode when airmen at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., lost track of six nuclear warheads and mistakenly flew them from Minot and Barksdale Air Force Base, La. The Air Force has since stood up Global Strike Command and placed a renewed priority on its nuclear enterprise.