A B-1B Lancer flies a combat patrol over Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon / U.S. Air ForceBombers Away? The B-1 Could Be Near Its Demise -- Time Magazine
Nixon launched it, Carter killed it and Reagan resurrected it. In its infancy, the Air Force's B-1 bomber was a quick and dirty military metaphor — Republicans wanted to buy weapons to defend the nation from the Soviet Union, and Democrats didn't. Now it could become a different kind of symbol: the Air Force is thinking of retiring its total 66-plane B-1 fleet to hit budget targets set by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Top Air Force officials met behind closed doors late last week to determine if permanently grounding the B-1 fleet makes sense.
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More News On B-1
B-1B fleet could be retired early -- Reporter News
B-1B program on the chopping block? Report says maybe -- Reporter News
B-1B Lancer Fleet To the Boneyard? -- Defense Tech
My Comment: Not much coverage on this story from other media sources .... I suspect that this is a trial balloon to calculate opinion .... but if more coverage starts to increase, expect the B-1 to be on the chopping block within the year.
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