Is It Time to Bring Back the Medium Bomber?— Think Defence (@thinkdefence) August 22, 2020
Can't believe this post is nearly a decade old
https://t.co/XwqMVhIkxW
Make sure you read his article (amazing that this has been talked about for more than a decade), but the answer is HELL YEAH IT IS!!!
The problem?
The various services have been beset by mafias that have tilted the field in terrible ways that we're only NOW starting to see the consequences of.
Aviation has wrecked the Marine Corps and now its reforming itself into an abomination in order to make what it has work. Which means an even greater disturbance in force structure (couldn't help the Star Wars reference).
For the Navy its coming to terms that instead of being an asset, carrier Navy is close to becoming an hindrance instead of a war winning construct.
For the Air Force? It's the fighter mafia, the surrender forced on the old Strategic Air Command (in their case I guess it was a bit more understandable because bombers held sway for so long), and the imbalance in their force structure that has left them short ranged.
In essence it makes no sense for the USAF to be fielding thousands of tactical fighters but no capable medium bomber.
We need a solid capable modern version of the B-25. Something with long range, fast, can fly high and launch missiles at distance. I would aim for speed of high subsonic but it would need to be able to do Mach 1 in a "dash". Additionally it needs to be able to roam far and wide. Avionics from the F-15EX and those that WORK from the F-35 would be nice to have too.
Engines would be off the shelf and nothing fanciful (again I'm looking at the F-15's set) and stealth would be limited, not a goal but stealth reduction where possible (and affordable) would be pursued.
But what about the B-21? Its another one of those hold over projects that no longer applies. For better or worse Generals are gonna have to wrap their brains around the fact that "manned" aircraft will no longer be penetration platforms. That will be left to robots/loyal wingman. Which means that another expensive stealth platform isn't needed. Quite honestly they'd be smarter to focus on building in a secondary electronic warfare function into my mythical bird. Carrying the Navy's EA-18 next gen jamming pods as a matter of everyday life would be a nice force multiplier and since I see a three man crew which would include an Electronic Warfare Officer it makes sense!
That's my idea. What's yours? Is this dead on arrival? Is TD (and ME!) wrong?
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