U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr. is demanding that the U.S. military “change” in order to “stay ahead” of Russia and China. “Our adversaries have continued to advance their capabilities at the same time we’ve been using some of the same capabilities we’ve been using for the past 30 years,” Brown told the Voice of America in an interview recorded earlier this week. “The threat we were up against is not the threat we’ll see in the future, and that’s why we’ve got to change.”
Brown’s remarks followed those of Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, who demanded a defense matériel and industry modernization gear-up, because, he said, the war in Ukraine is only “the warmup” for “the big one” coming against China. Brown’s remarks also come of the unveiling of the B-21 bomber next month, the new stealth bomber which is to replace both the B-1 and B-2 bombers over the next five years or so.
Brown would not provide the availability rates for the Air Force’s aircraft, which give leaders a clearer picture of what aircraft would be at their disposal in the event of a crisis. “One thing I will say is that this is why I’m going to modernize, because we have some aircraft that are, from a maintenance standpoint, a little harder, more difficult to maintain [with] diminishing resources for parts,” Brown said. “And that’s the aspect of being able to modernize—so we increase the aircraft availability and ensure we have a ready force.”
The program of record for the B-21 calls for 100 aircraft, which is more than the number of B-1’s and B-2’s they will be replacing, but there have been rumors for years that the Air Force wants more, maybe 150-200 of them. The B-21 will be capable of delivering nuclear weapons as well as conventional.
