Breaking defence article - LRS-B LaPlante Confirms decision to be announced "very very soon"

a reply to: Zaphod58

I wonder if the Bone-R might gain more traction with the Chinese and their increasing naval brazenness in the Pacific.

I imagine that you could load it up with harpoons (or whatever improved ASM we'll be fielding by then) and end up with an anti-fleet aircraft that would make the TU-22m look like a Fairey Swordfish.

That alone would justify having ~30 or so of them

a reply to: Barnalby
True new is good..But the Fairey Swordfish did knock out half the Italian fleet in WW2 and knock a Battleship around.

a reply to: Barnalby

Especially since it wouldn't be a new build, but upgrades to the existing fleet. I don't think taking too many of them out of service for awhile to do the upgrades would work out though, especially if done before a new bomber is only partially implemented. And the thought of the stresses put on the older airframes at those speeds is a little disconcerting too.

But the more I've read about the B-1R, the more I kind of like it.