- The US's three bombers - the B-1B Lancer, the B-2 Spirit, and the B-52 Stratofortress - will be joined or replaced by the B-21 Raider stealth bomber.
- The B-52 is expected to fly through the 2050s, and the B-2 accomplished a number of firsts this summer. The B-1B, meanwhile, had particularly low mission readiness this year.
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The US has three bombers - the B-1B Lancer, the stealth B-2 Spirit, and the B-52 Stratofortress - to deliver thousands of tons of firepower in combat.
Some form of the B-52 has been in use since 1955. The B-1B took its first flight in 1974, and the B-2 celebrated its 30th year in the skies in 2019. A new stealth bomber, the B-21, is in production and is expected to fly in December 2021, although details about it are scarce.
The US Air Force has been conducting missions in Europe with B-52s and B-2s in order to project dominance against Russia and train with NATO partners, but the bomber fleet has faced problems. The B-1B fleet struggled with low readiness rates, as Air Force Times reported in June, likely due to its age and overuse in recent conflicts.
Here are all the bombers in the US Air Force's fleet.