U.S. Defense Department Unveils 30-year Aviation PlanFebruary 10, 2010

 

The 30-year aviation plan that the Pentagon presented to Congress hints at expectations for commissioning a new long-range bomber fleet for the Air Force and Navy. This is also the first time that the Pentagon submitted a joint plan for the Air Force and Navy, according to the Air Force Times.

According to the plan, there are no bomber purchases planned over a 10-year period. Instead the Defense Department will spend “considerable sums on modernizing legacy air mobility and long-range strike platforms. The picture will change in the 2020s, when priority will likely shift to buying long-range strike and strategic lift aircraft."

The Pentagon is still only researching requirements for a new generation of long-range bombers. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the 2011 budgets have earmarked almost $2 billion between 2011 and 2015 to develop the bomber. "Although the characteristics of the next long-range strike aircraft have not yet been determined, one option under consideration is a survivable, penetrating aircraft with better stealth capabilities than current aircraft have," according to the plan.

The bomber might also incorporate advanced sensors. The report added that the "range and payload requirements for a successor system are still under investigation."

Other highlights of the plan, according to the Air Force Times., include the following:

  • The combined fighter and attack aircraft fleet will total 3,264 jets in 2011 and shrink to 2,883 in 2018. The number will inch up to 2,929 by 2020.
  • The multi-role unmanned aerial fleet, however, will grow from 72 in 2011 to 223 in 2015. By 2020, that number will skyrocket to 476 planes.
  • The plan projects a "3% average annual real growth" for the military's aviation programs between 2011 and 2020.

"Total aviation investments will amount to $268 billion across the period," according to the plan. "In terms of annual funding levels, expenditures will rise from about $22 billion in FY 2011 to about $29 billion in FY 2020."