Replacing America's Aging Bomber Fleet (B-52, B-1, B-2): Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) Concepts, Ground Attack, Nuclear, Prompt Global Strike, Conventional ICBMs, Space-Based Systems

America's fleet of strategic nuclear and conventional bombers - the B-52, B-1, B-2 - is rapidly aging, and Air Force officials are pursuing a replacement bomber, currently called the Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B). Other ground attack options are being explored, including conventionally-armed ICBM missiles and space-based systems. This unique ebook reproduces a dozen unique military documents and reports about this critical national security issue, with extensive information about all aspects of the current bomber fleet.

Part 1 - Overview * Part 2: Long-Range Strike - The Bedrock of Deterrence and America's Strategic Advantage * Part 3: U.S. Air Force Long-Range Strike Aircraft White Paper * Part 4: Alternatives for Long-Range Ground-Attack Systems * Part 5: Air Force Next-Generation Bomber: Background and Issues for Congress * Part 6: Strategic Systems - Presentation to the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, United States Senate * Part 7: A Range-Balanced Force - An Alternate Force Structure Adapted to New Defense Priorities * Part 8: Designing a Strategic Bomber: Evolving Operational Concepts * Part 9: Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues * Part 10: Space-Based Global Strike: Understanding Strategic and Military Implications * Part 11: Square Pegs and Round Holes: Air Force Doctrine and the B-2 Bomber * Part 12: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues

Long-range strike (LRS) and the often-associated phrase strategic attack are perhaps the most discussed but least understood terms in current military use. Despite, or perhaps because of, numerous definitions and formulations, we tend to overlook the real value of LRS capabilities in the minor details of numerous acquisition plans and concepts of operations. Many components comprise America's power to influence. Yet its ability to project conventional and nuclear military power across the globe at a time and place of our choosing represents the influential backstop for other US instruments of power. The latent threat of violence supported by a credible capability to hold an enemy's most valued resources at risk with little notice or chance for defense gives LRS its ultimate strategic value. Similarly, nations that maintain a robust LRS historically retain a strategic advantage against peer or near-peer state actors. Although the platform, plan, or strategy may change, the purpose of LRS remains the same—to under-gird political will by demonstrating credible, flexible, survivable, and visible military power. If the United States wishes to maintain a strategic advantage across the globe, it should heed lessons learned by past global powers and place capable LRS among the highest priorities for development, investment, and modernization—even in a fiscally constrained environment.