Battle looms over Pentagon plan to cut B-52 bomber force

Congress is preparing to wage a high-stakes battle with the Pentagon over plans to cut 40 percent of the Air Force's venerable B-52 bomber fleet to make room in the service's constrained budget for higher priority programs.

With the Air Force is expected to make sweeping manpower and aircraft cuts over the next several years as part of a broader Defense Department effort to cut spending, this year's fight may prove more challenging than ever for the bomber's fiercely loyal supporters.

"It was the only way we could balance the books for the budget in the future," said retired Gen. John Loh, a former commander of Air Combat Command. With a single line in its recently released Quadrennial Defense Review, the Pentagon revealed its intent to reduce the fleet from 94 B-52 H-model planes to 56.

The Air Force wants to pour those savings into upgrading the remaining B-52s, as well as B-1 and B-2 bombers. Much of lawmakers' arguments will center on the fact that B-52s, first fielded in 1955, cost half as much to fly as the B-1.

"Given our huge budget problem, it would make sense to me to keep the most efficient bombers in the fleet," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who last year helped restore B-52 money in the fiscal 2006 budget.

The Louisiana and North Dakota delegations, whose states are home to the entire fleet of B-52s, have successfully thwarted previous efforts to retire portions of the fleet. They are wasting no time gearing up for another battle. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., discussed the issue Tuesday with leaders at Minot Air Force Base, the North Dakota home to 35 B-52Hs.

It would be unwise "to fly them off to the graveyard when we don't have a replacement and we still face contingencies that could require us to be in action half a world away in Iraq and at the same time be involved in some other distant part of the globe," Conrad told CongressDaily. The upgraded planes are in shape to fly until 2037, he added.

Meanwhile, Louisiana lawmakers will meet Tuesday with Air Force officials to discuss the proposal's impact on Barksdale Air Force Base, said an aide to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. The Louisiana delegation jumped on the issue last month after a leaked draft document revealed the Air Force's plans.

"Despite the B-52's sterling record and prominent role in numerous military campaigns, debate has intensified about its very existence," lawmakers wrote Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley Jan. 25. "We are deeply concerned the Air Force has created another justification for dismantling this all-important node in our nation's defense."

But with defense budgets expected to level off in coming years, the B-52 decision may be one of fiscal necessity, say former defense officials. The B-52 "is not like something you wouldn't want to have if you were a rich man and could have it all," said Jacques Gansler, who as Pentagon acquisition chief grappled with the issue in the late 1990s.

But political pressure prevailed and the B-52 fleet remained intact. Conrad said he suspects the latest proposal -- which would cut deeper than previous plans -- is a budget ploy. "They cut in a place that they know Congress won't agree with and [will] restore funding," he said.