B-52 retirement plan raises questions on Hill

Published: Mar 30, 2006
Source: aimpoints.hq.af.mil



Senate lawmakers continue to question Air Force plans to retire 38 B-52s at a time when the service is using the aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“That’s the only long-distance horse that we’ve got,” Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said during a March 29 Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing. “It’s always been very effective.”

Legislators have continually criticized the Air Force’s plan to whittle down the B-52 fleet to 56 aircraft. The Senate approved March 16 an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., that would force the Air Force to continue maintaining and upgrading all 94.continue..