The US Air Force is studying 2 bases to see which is best to handle the new B-21 bomber

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The US Air Force is studying 2 bases to see which is best to handle the new B-21 bomber
B-21 Raider bomber

Northrop Grumman/US Air Force

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An artist's rendering of the B-21 bomber at Ellsworth Air Force Base

  • The Air Force expects to start getting the new B-21 bomber around the middle of this decade.
  • When it arrives, it'll need somewhere to go, and that's why the Air Force is starting to assess potential homes.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Air Force is moving forward with assessments to determine where it can safely base its new B-21 Raider bomber.

The service will soon start environmental impact studies to assess the effects of putting "Main Operating Base 1" for the new bomber at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, according to a notice published in the US federal register on Friday.

The studies "will assess the potential environmental consequences of the proposal to beddown the Department of Defense's new bomber aircraft, the B-21 'Raider,' which will eventually replace existing B-1 and B-2 bomber aircraft," the notice says.

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The studies typically evaluate the impact on an area's residents, wildlife, industries, and resources.

The first main operating base "includes two B-21 Operational Squadrons, a B-21 Formal Training Unit, and a Weapons Generation Facility," the notice says. There will eventually be three main operating bases for the B-21. After the first is chosen, the second and third will assessed in future analyses conducted in line with the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Air Force said in March 2019 that Ellsworth had been picked as the preferred location for the first operational B-21 bomber and the formal B-21 training unit, with Dyess and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri receiving new bombers as they became available.

Studying two bases doesn't necessarily mean Ellsworth has lost that status, an Air Force spokesperson said Monday.

"We have to do the environmental impact study at each location before we can make the final basing decision," the spokesperson said, adding that the studies take about two years. (The Air Force said in its March 2019 announcement that a final basing decision was expected in 2021.)

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The study of Ellsworth is underway, with studies at Dyess and a third location starting soon. Public hearings will be held, noise assessments conducted, and infrastructure examined to ensure the bases can handle the new aircraft.

"They take all that information, it comes back up to the headquarters of the Air Force, and then they make their final basing decision," the spokesperson said.

Below, you can see where the new bombers will be going and how the Air Force plans to bring them into the force.

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Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Ellsworth was picked as the first base to get the Raider because it has sufficient space and the necessary facilities to accommodate simultaneous missions at the lowest cost and with minimal operational impact across it, Dyess, and Whiteman, the Air Force said last March.

It is one of only two B-1B bases in the world, the other being Dyess.

Ellsworth's host unit is the 28th Bomb Wing, part of the 8th Air Force under Air Force Global Strike Command. It is Air Combat Command's lead B-1B conventional bomb wing.

The 28th Bomb Wing has two bomber squadrons and a total of 27 B-1s, according to a fact sheet. The wing also began flying MQ-9 Reaper missions in 2012.

The study will also look at the impact of B-21 aircraft operations on their training areas. For Ellsworth, the primary training area would be the Powder River Training Complex, which covers parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.

Dyess Air Force Base.

Dyess Air Force Base.

Dyess trains all Air Force B-1 bomber crews and is often called the "Home of the B-1."

The base's host unit is the 7th Bomb Wing, which is also assigned to the 8th Air Force under Air Force Global Strike Command.

Within the wing is the 7th Operations Group, the Air Force's largest B-1B operations group, with 36 B-1 bombers and more than 1,100 personnel assigned to its four squadrons.

The 317th Airlift Wing, assigned to the 18th Air Force under Air Mobility Command, is also stationed at Dyess. Flying the C-130J, the newest generation of the C-130 Hercules, it mainly does the tactical part of the airlift mission, dropping troops and equipment into hostile areas.

Powder River Training Complex would also be the primary training area for bombers based at Dyess, but the Texas base would use airspace in the Brownwood and Lancer military operating areas in Texas and the Pecos military operating area in Texas and New Mexico.

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Out with the new, in with the old.

Out with the new, in with the old.

The first B-21s are slated to arrive in the mid-2020s. As they enter the fleet, the Air Force will start divesting its B-1B Lancers and B-2A Spirit bombers.

Shedding the Lancers and the Spirits will take some time and will leave the Air Force with its newest bomber, the Raider, and its oldest, the B-52H Stratofortress, which was introduced in the 1950s.

What it has in years, however, the B-52 makes up in lack of mileage.

"Many of these airplanes sat out on nuclear alert during the Cold War and had relatively low hours on them in comparison" to other bombers, Lt. Gen. David Nahom, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told the House Armed Services Committee in February.

"If you look at what we need a bomber to do, and what we can do with a B-52 with the Civilian Engine Replacement Program, as well as the new radar and some of the new digital backbone, we're going to be able to do things with that airplane that we would not be able to do with a B-1 and B-2," Nahom added.

"The future of the bomber force for the Air Force is in a B-21 and a heavily modified B-52," he said.

The Air Force wants to part with the B-1 and the B-2 so it can use resources elsewhere.

The Air Force wants to part with the B-1 and the B-2 so it can use resources elsewhere.

The Air Force has just 20 B-2s in active service, the least of any strategic bomber, but the Spirit also has capabilities the Air Force needs until it gets the B-21 up and running — namely, "its ability to penetrate as well as its nuclear strategic deterrence mission," Nahom said.

The Spirit is the Air Force's only stealth nuclear-capable bomber.

The B-1B remains valuable because of its "pure volume of fires," Nahom said, referring to its considerable payload. But the service is proposing to mothball 17 of the least reliable Lancers in its next budget, leaving 44 in active service.

"One of the problems with the B-1 is we've used that airplane and overused it over many years, and it's broken it in many ways," Nahom said last month. The Lancer has been a workhorse in the global war on terror.

The B-1's age, low mission-capable rates, and the time and resources needed to keep it flying led the Air Force to believe some could go, Nahom said, "so we can use the same number of maintainers to concentrate on the airplanes that are ... more efficient to recover to a flying status."

"By taking the fleet down by 17 airplanes, that takes the worst actors offline and lets the maintainers concentrate on the airplanes that have a better road to recovery," Nahom added.

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With years to go before the B-21 is working, however, the service is also making transition plans.

With years to go before the B-21 is working, however, the service is also making transition plans.

Nahom admitted that there was "a little bit of unknown" in the B-21's future.

The B-21 is "on track and doing very well, but there will be some challenges going forward," he said, assuring lawmakers that there will be some overlap in the transition.

"The first B-21 goes into the first site, there will be a transition period where that base will bring down their B-1s and will bring in their B-21s," Nahom said. "That will go base to base, so you'll have the first base [starting] somewhere [in the] mid-[2020s] to '26-'27 timeframe when the first aircraft show up, after that transition, then you go to the next base and then the next base."

Asked if delays on the B-21 would require spending more money on the B-1B in the future, Nahom said the Air Force was investing in the remaining Lancers now.

"The 44 airplanes that are left, we are investing and making sure that they have the airframe and the avionics that they need to carry that long-range strike through the '20s," Nahom said. "We're going to have to do that."

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