It sure sounded like a good idea: Take a few B-52s, strap on outboard radar-jamming pods, and scramble enemy air and electronic defense networks at will. It seems now that Air Force officials are reconsidering the whole thing in favor of a more-agile platform. That’s the word from the Lexington Institute’s well-informed Loren Thompson, as quoted in a Reuters dispatch. Of course, given the Pentagon’s budget slashing mood, cutting the electric B-52 dollars might have been a fairly obvious move to make. However, the Air Force will need to make a move soon to have a replacement by the time the Navy retires its EA-6B Prowlers.
A group of 55 Democratic lawmakers from the House and the Senate released a letter Jan. 26, urging President Joe Biden to declare a “no first use” policy for nuclear arms and to roll back the U.S.’s “reliance on nuclear weapons” in the Pentagon’s forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review.