The U.S. Manned Bomber and Strategic Deterrence in the 1990s

Weapons without a cause: Buying stealth bombers the American way

“…40 However, as the Air Force was to admit in late 1988, neither was the B-2. 41 It therefore down played this mission for the B-2 until mid-1989, when Air Force Chief of Staff, General Larry Welch, declared that the B-2 still offered the best chance of successfully targeting Soviet RTs. 42 Furthermore, in March 1990 the Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of (the now disbanded) SAC, General John Chain, testified before the HASC that destroying mobile targets was a primary mission of the B-2.…”

“…Welch declared in 1988 that the B-2's main mission would be to bomb very important VHTs. 45 According to Air Force officials, the ALCM-Bs, MXs and Trident D-5s lack the combination of warhead accuracy and yield necessary to ensure the destruction of these targets. 46 The USAF estimates that B-2s are about as twice as effective at knocking out VHTs as the other systems named above.…”