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The US Department of Defense has announced that Northrup Grumman will be supplying its next generation of Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) to replace the aging B-52 and B-2 fleets.
"Over the past century, no nation has used air power to accomplish its global reach -- to compress time and space -- like the United States," said Defense Secretary Ash Carter
"Building this bomber is a strategic investment in the next 50 years, and represents our aggressive commitment to a strong and balanced force. It demonstrates our commitment to our allies and our determination to potential adversaries, making it crystal clear that the United States will continue to retain the ability to project power throughout the globe long into the future."
The first prototypes of the new bomber won't take to the skies until 2025 at the earliest, and is unlikely to be operational for years after that. But it's going to be packed with the latest technology to shield it from ever-smarter missiles and other weapons systems.
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Like the B-2, it will be using radar-absorbing materials and high-tech weapons. Directed-energy anti-missile technology has been touted for the aircraft by some analysts, as has the ability to carry electronic payloads that could disrupt enemy computer systems.
Yes, Ye Children of Slashdot, this one will have frickin' laser beams.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khallow on Friday October 30 2015, @11:08PM
Have we hit "peak weapons"?
Repeatedly it seems like we're hearing that new military systems are failing to adequately justify themselves relative to existing systems. Is there a point where trying to add new features just results in an over-engineered shitbox compared to something that maybe just looks for a decent point in price-performance-reliability trade offs?
It does seem like the US passed some organizational threshold some time ago with respect to these big projects. I wouldn't call it "peak weapon" because it's not military-related, but seems to hold for a variety of large projects. Other examples (not just at the federal level) are the decades long inability to replace the Space Shuttle with a manned space launch vehicle, the Big Dig road construction project (a notorious and remarkably expensive construction project in Boston). or the common screw ups with the state and federal health insurance exchanges.
(Score: 4, Informative) by fnj on Saturday October 31 2015, @02:41AM
Excelent illustrations, but it's even worse than that. The entire civilization has reached an abject failure to cope. It's not just the big, ambitious projects. It's the straightforward stuff, too. Building a school is now an exercise in outdoing/outspending the Taj Mahal. Nothing is maintained any more. If the roof leaks, raze the building and build one that is 10 times as grandiose and 1/10 as durable. Let the roads degenerate into rubble. The plastic of a gallon jug of water has become so microscopically thin that it requires great delicacy to get it out of the store and into the home without it springing a leak. It is filled so close to the top to save material that when you open it, a bunch of water splashes out on the counter and floor from the pressure being released and the flimsy thing flexing. Rail lines are allowed to be abandoned, and transformed into "bike trails" for leisure - despite demands for transportation progressively increasing all the time. Electrical power production demands are not being met. Costs of disposing of day-to-day domestic household waste have skyrocketed out of control, and now exceed the cost of the electric bill.