Northrup Grumman Bomber

Jack Northrup would be PROUD.

unlike the past ) think F35) costs are planned on staying reigned in

10 years till production starts?

Sounds optimistic to me.

I think its been awhile since congress tossed them a bone.......it puts a lot of people to work

People working is good.

At least it's not another photo of Pluto....

I do believe I was just slighted

A manned bomber for two decades hence makes absolutely no sense at all.

Given the mass and volume fractions dedicated to human physiology along with the maneuver limits the human body brings to the platform this thing is already a dinosaur.

As in most "defense" programs the real money is in development where little manufacturing infrastructure investment is required. The real money is in cancelled programs before infrastructure capital costs are required.

A handful of engineers and a small office wing can easily generate some number of billions in revenue and where there is very low overhead.

Development programs also facilitate black programs; which gives plausible deniability to super secret programs. Not always a bad thing.

I'm in total agreement that manned flights for almost all aircraft going the way of the 8 track tape

Why not just build an updated B-52-updated avionics, engines, fly-by-wire?

The so-called "Stealth Strategic Bomber" is going to cost so much to develop and build that it's never going to be committed to combat.

From what I recall the 52 operates at at about the same speed and altitude as the B-2.

Germany built superior tanks during WWII, but the Allies built more Sherman's and T-34's, and faster than they could be destroyed.

Bombers are only useful if you have air superiority, and from the reports on the F-35, that's not going to happen soon, if ever.

As the saying goes "Don't bypass the good in search of the perfect".

An analogy: "...never bring a SINGLE-shot gun to a MACHINE-gun fight..."

True - but make sure your weapon works!

From one of Fredski's favorites, no less:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/10/21/sorry-saga-f-35-when-pentagon-wastes-money-all-get-vegas-hangover.html?intcmp=hpbt2

A retired Pentagon major weapons system marketing maven alerted me to the F-35 theft on the horizon almost 20 years ago. At least half of the L-M take on the F-35 will come with sales beyond US/NATO, courtesy of Uncle Sam (little "us").