The United States Air Force recently announce that it will be choosing a contractor in the near future for its new supersonic stealth bomber. The Air Force has not had a new stealth bomber in thirty years and they believe that the time is now to acquire one. The plans for the new bomber are so high tech and so futuristic that the Air Force hopes never to even have to use them.

The Air Force, according to Reuters, currently has 160 bombers including B-52’s, as well as B1’s and B2’s. The Air Force wants to order 100 of the new bombers for the completion of its Long Range Strike Program. The new bombers will have a huge range that the Air Force says will be critical in the future. The Air Force believes their current bomber fleet to be nearly obsolete in the face of advances made by the Russians and the Chinese.

The Air Force needs this new bomber to be able to be fast and have a long range as they will need to battle their way through enemy defenses, make their bombing run, and return to base in a single mission. The Air Force really hopes to never use them and that they will act as a serious deterrent to those who wish to challenge American interests anywhere in the world. The Pentagon really doesn’t expect to have to go to war with China or Russia.

The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, back in 2010, put the bomber project on the back burner for the foreseeable future. The Air Force is particularly anxious to swap out their B-52’s which have been in service since the 1960’s. Gates didn’t want the project to move forward because he knew that the Air Force always designed and dreamed of impossibly difficult planes to actually build.

The Air Force is expecting to pay between $550 million and $800 million per plane.