Pentagon Official Meets with Northrop About New Long Range Bomber

The kind of planes the US needs the most are proper F111/F15E replacement and a B52 replacement. As these planes are the most useful plane classes for the US in their current wars.
A B52 hovering over Afganistan or iraq with loads of small diameter bombs is one of the cheapest and effective solutions for air support against guerrilla warfare. They are also extremely cost effective.
Medium strike aircraft are very useful for 2 reasons. They are significantly more capable against more modern enemy air defences and they still carry a decent load.