From The Danger Room:Northrop Grumman just unveiled its design patents for the military's Next Generation Bomber. But one of the Air Force's top generals is hoping you'd call it something else. Because this aircraft, slated for a possible 2018 takeoff, is going to do much more than drop warheads from on high.
The Air Force has faced resistance to its plans to build a new, stealthy, long-range, supersonic bomber almost since the day the project was announced. "Fielding a penetrating bomber by 2018 is probably not doable, because the technology is not mature enough, and almost certainly not affordable, because the cost of trying to field immature technology will lead to skyrocketing costs," Center for Strategic and International Studies senior fellow Clark Murdock wrote last year. The White House now reportedly wants to shelve the program, to save cash. After all, the current fleet of bombers are holding up pretty well.
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My Comment: This project is going to be on the drawing board for a very long time.