the-art, it’s a waste of money. I rebuild dozens of World War Two–, Korea-, and Vietnam-era planes every year, and they are fully certified and able to do the job—they are far better than they were when they were first built, and that’s how the XB-1 Excaliburs will be. When General McLanahan approached me with this plan to train crews to fly refurbished B-1 bombers, I signed on immediately. But I told General McLanahan he’d be wasting his company’s money because the government would never commit to fielding forty-year-old bombers.”
“It’s not stealthy, the airframes are of questionable integrity, the basic systems such as flight controls and landing gear are unsupported and prone to unexpected failure, and in order to fly and maintain them Colonel Hoffman here has to recruit aviators and mechanics that are well into their . . . postretirement years, ma’am,” Murth said determinedly, showing his displeasure at Hoffman’s outbursts. “It’s chasing good money after bad. The Russians and the Chinese can fly rings around it. General McLanahan thinks that just because it’s less expensive than modern alternatives such as the F-35 or F/A-18, it’s better. It certainly is nothing of the . . . kind.”
“I see,” Ann said. “So tell me, Patrick: we’ve got Super Hornets, and soon the F-35 Lightnings will be operational . . . hopefully. So why do we need these B-1 bombers?”
“Ma’am, the F-35 and even the F/A-18 Hornet are perfect examples of what’s wrong with military procurement: building equipment first and then finding a mission for them,” Patrick said. “The F/A-18 is a good carrier-based fighter and bomber, but its short combat radius limits its usability in the Pacific theater without lots of external fuel tanks that rob its performance, a carrier, or basing very close to enemy shores. The Super Hornet was meant to replace the A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair, and A-12 stealth bombers and F-14 Tomcat fighter, but it can’t do what the others can.
“The F-35 was supposed to replace the F-16 Fighting Falcon,” Patrick went on, “and it has some very advanced capabilities, but its payload is virtually the same as the F-16 and its combat radius is only marginally greater. They are planes that do many roles well, but some roles not as well as the planes they are supposed to replace.
“Now we have a new battle concept: the AirSea Battle. Everyone says AirSea Battle is not specifically designed around a future conflict with China, but unless we go to war with Japan, India, or Australia, there are few other adversaries that require both land- and carrier-based attackers to prosecute. The F-35 and F/A-18 Super Hornet have fantastic technologies, but they can’t do the long-range mission in the Pacific without operating from carriers or forward bases, so trying to shoehorn the Lightning or Hornet to do AirSea Battle just won’t work.”
“So just put cruise missiles on them,” Ann said.
“The Lightning can carry the most advanced nonnuclear air-launched cruise missile, the AGM-158A-Extended Range,” Patrick responded, “but it has to carry the missiles externally, which greatly decreases its range and destroys its stealthiness—a workable option, if we had enough F-35s, but again we were adapting a weapon system for a mission rather than designing a weapons system
“Spoken like a true bomber puke,” Ann interjected with a smile.
“Guilty as charged, ma’am,” Patrick said. “The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber can certainly do it, but we only have a handful of them surviving after the American Holocaust. The Next Generation Bomber and the Thor’s Hammer space-based attack weapon programs were supposed to do the mission, but they were canceled, and even if they were restarted tomorrow, it would take a minimum of five years to build a force large enough to do the job.”
“So you thought of refurbishing mothballed bombers to do it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Patrick said. “I took my son, Bradley, for a tour of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base a few years ago, and he was blown away by all the shrink- wrapped B-1 bombers stored out there. Sky Masters Inc. has been providing the technology for modernizing B-52 and B-1 bombers for years, and when I took over at Sky Masters, I decided I wanted to get back into the business of rebuilding the bomber force. The Air Force leadership had canceled their B-1 refurbishing program at Palmdale because of budget cuts, and they were all too happy to sell me the entire program. Then we bought a quantity of F136 engines and realized they would fit just fine in B-1 bombers and how much it enhanced the plane’s performance and fuel efficiency. Then, after sticking modern engines in the B-1s, we found how easy it was to retrofit modern digital avionics into B-1 bombers as well. The Air Force was willing to give us a bunch of off-the- shelf avionics for little to no cost. Before we knew it, the XB-1 was born. The program practically developed itself.”
“Interesting story, Patrick,” Vice President Ann Page said.
“Except it’s not the entire story, Miss Vice President,” Murth interjected. “The B-1 isn’t stealthy. It can’t survive over a modern battlefield, and China certainly has radars and air defense systems that can detect, track, and attack it. The B-1 is . . . obsolete.”
“Patrick?”
“It’s true, the B-1’s radar cross section is ten times greater than the F-35,” Patrick said. “But an F-35 carrying two external cruise missiles has a larger radar cross section, and its range is about a
“The B-1 with internal stores has just a slightly larger radar cross section than the Super Hornet; it has more powerful radar jammers; it has a much higher ingress speed; it is capable of terrain-following flight, and it can carry as many as sixteen cruise missiles versus the F-35’s maximum of two,” Patrick went on. “Plus, the F-35 isn’t operational yet, and isn’t forecast to be so for another four years at best. The XB-1 Excalibur is only an interim solution to AirSea Battle until the Next Generation Bomber or Mjollnir is built, but it can do the job for less money, better than any other alternative and be operational sooner.”
“The design is forty years old, and the newest plane is almost thirty years old and hasn’t been flown for almost fifteen years,” Murth said. “General McLanahan is quoting performance and stealthiness numbers based on 1980s technology. If a Chinese JN-15 or J-20 or a Russian Sukhoi-34 or T-50 gets within range of one, all those sixteen cruise missiles will be lost in the blink of an eye. I strongly urge you to not consider this program, Miss Vice President.”
“Thank you, Mr. Undersecretary,” Ann said, then looked at National Security Adviser Glenbrook. “Bill?”
“I like the plan, Miss Vice President,” Glenbrook said after a moment of silent consideration. Murth’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Frankly, ma’am, we don’t have much choice. Look at what’s happened out in the South China Sea: we have a handful of bombers, including a B-2 stealth bomber, survivors of the American Holocaust, stationed on Guam with the Continuous Bomber Presence task force, but we were hesitant to use them over the South China Sea for fear of escalating tensions or, worse, getting one mysteriously shot down like we lost the P-8 Poseidon. Carriers launching Hornets would need to move in close to hostile waters to operate, and the F-35 Lightning won’t even be operational for three to four years at best. The skipper of that Coast Guard cutter was pleading for air support, and we had nothing to offer him. General McLanahan’s plan is the only viable option.” He thought again, then nodded. “I will recommend to the president that the Pentagon should go to Congress to seek funds to implement General McLanahan’s project.”
“Excuse me, sir, but in my opinion there is no way Congress is going to agree to spend almost half a billion dollars on a few forty-year-old flying . . . dinosaurs,” Murth said, the dumbfounded expression plastered on his face. “The White House will look . . . foolish.”
“In light of what’s happened over the South China Sea,” Ann said, “I’ll recommend that the president request emergency funding to immediately implement the program.”
Murth turned his stunned expression to the vice president. “Emergency funding, Miss Vice President?” he asked. “That is not at all . . . reasonable.”
“The president and I disagree, Mr. Undersecretary,” Ann said. “We want the project to proceed with all possible speed. The White House and Pentagon have some emergency discretionary funds allotted to us precisely for this type of contingency. Some will be used to replace the rotary-wing aircraft on the Coast Guard cutter; some to replace the P-8 Poseidon; something for the families of those lost; and the rest to procure the refurbished B-1 bombers for use in the Pacific. We can do this until we get Congress to fund more B-1s or a new long-range strike
