In addition to the advent of area-denial and anti-access capabilities that military futurists foresaw in 1992 as a way to check US power and place a greater premium on long-range strike platforms (see above), that year was also ominous for bombers in two other ways, according to Barry Watts, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Appearing March 18 at a Mitchell Institute-sponsored airpower forum in Washington, D.C., Watts noted that President George H.W. Bush, in 1992, discarded a long-agreed plan to buy 75 B-2 stealth bombers and instead slashed the buy to 20. (The Air Force later converted a test aircraft to give it a total of 21.) It was also the year that Strategic Air Command was disestablished, eliminating high-level advocacy for such systems. After that, the Air Force “really lost its focus” on the nuclear and bomber mission, Watts said. Re-establishing that focus is why the Air Force has decided to create Air Force Global Strike Command, a new nuclear-centric major command, as part of its efforts to reinvigorate its nuclear mission.
We looked back on the past 12 months to find the stories that resonated the most with you, our audience, and these 10 topped the list. Maybe you missed one the first time around, or perhaps you’d like to revisit a favorite.