Back in August of 2014, I wrote a piece for TomDispatch on the American cult of bombing. The Air Force’s new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, was still on the drawing board a decade ago. The Air Force wanted 100 of them at a projected cost of $55 billion to acquire them.
The projected cost of the B-21, you won’t be surprised to learn, has now climbed to roughly $750 million per plane, or $75 billion to acquire 100 of them. Of course, the total program cost will easily exceed $200 billion over 30 years, the Air Force admitted in 2022. (I’m old enough to remember when the entire Pentagon budget was less than $200 billion a year.)
By the way, the Air Force is now talking about buying 200 B-21s, which I think is my old service’s latest ploy to prevent cuts to the initial ask of 100. Cheaper by the hundreds!
America’s belief in the efficacy of bombing is truly incredible. We could end poverty in America and house all the homeless for $200 billion over 30 years, but surely we need bombers more than that.
Hellbound and Down 