The United States is buying at least 100 B-21 Raider stealth bombers, and some of those will be going to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The U.S. Air Force said the west-central Missouri base will be getting the second wave of the futuristic warplanes.
Whiteman Air Force Base is home to the current B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Missouri Congressman Mark Alford, who sits on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, said the base is the perfect home for the new aircraft.
“So many times, in my job that I’ve been on the job for almost 19 to 20 months now, a lot of it is bad news that we have to share with the American people. This is something actually positive that I, along with my predecessor, Vicky Hartzler, worked on and others on the Armed Services Committee have helped with. One of the big things that we had in our advantage is the main operating base for the B-2 stealth bomber,” Alford told Missourinet. “And so, we are adding military construction out there that will help. There’s some things we’re going to need to do different.”
Alford, a west-central Missouri Republican, said the head of Global Strike Command has his eyes on Whiteman Air Force Base for even bigger things.
West-central Missouri Congressman Mark Alford
“General Bussiere, who’s the head of the Global Strike Command, he and I have been in constant contact. He’s based in Barksdale Air Force Base where Global Strike Command is headquartered. He really wants to make Whiteman the premier center of excellence for this program. It will be the main base out of the three bases from which the B-21 Stealth Raider will operate,” said Alford.
The other two bases getting the future stealth bombers are Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.
The new and improved stealth bombers will have advanced weapons technology, along with increased precision and survivability. They will be difficult for adversaries to detect.
Alford said the news is great for Whiteman and the nation.
“I think the level of aggression that we are now seeing from bad actors like Xi Jinping, the Iranian mullahs, even Vladimir Putin, I think having the strength of those bombers in our fleet is a great deterrent. And so, what it’s going to mean for us is that we are going to be able to be an even better deterrent,” he said.
Alford said how many B-21 stealth bombers Whiteman will be getting and when is classified.
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