b - 2隐形轰炸机携带新的核巡航管理信息系统sile

By Hans M. Kristensen

根据空军官员和预算文件，美国空军计划用新的核巡航导弹将B-2A隐形轰炸机武装起来。

B-2A轰炸机旨在通过未被发现的空气防御措施滑倒，目前尚无发射核巡航导弹的能力，这是专为B-52H轰炸机保留的角色。

Under the Air Force’s plans, however, the new nuclear cruise missile – known as the Long-Range Standoff Weapon – will arm three nuclear bombers: the B-2A, the B-52H, and the next-generation Long-Range Strike Bomber.

Recent Statements

The disclosure that the new nuclear cruise missile will be carried on the B-2A, B-52H, as well as the next generation bomber has emerged in recent Air Force testimony to Congress, the Air Force’s FY2014 budget request, and in a little notice interview in空军杂志.

Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, assistant chief of staff for Air Force strategic deterrence and nuclear integration,informedCongress last week that the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile “will be designed at its outset to be compatible with B-52, B-2, and the LRS-B” (Long-Range Strike-Bomber).

Lieutenant General James Kowalski, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command,confirmed: “The LRSO will be the follow-on to the aging ALCM and will be compatible with the B-52, B-2 and LRS-B.”

The Air Forcebudget requestfor FY2014 reveals that integration on the B-2 is already underway as part of a program known as Flexible Strike:

B-2 armament upgrades integrate new and/or advanced weapons on the B-2 to address a wider array of target sets, to include moving targets, and hardened, deeply buried targets. The Flexible Strike Phase 1 program — formerly known as Stores Management Operational Flight Program re-host — will recombine and rehost the current B-2 stores management software onto a new integrated processor, providing the processing and bandwidth to handle advanced digital weapons such as B61-12 or Long Range Stand Off (LRSO).

Production and fielding of the Flexible Strike Phase 1 program is planned for FY2016-FY2017, in time to receive the new guided B61-12 bomb in 2019 and the LRSO cruise missile in the mid/late-2020s.

An Expensive New Nuclear Weapon

在关于核武器现代化成本的公开辩论中，人们经常说新的远程罢工轰炸机并不是一个重大的核成本，因为它的大部分使命是无核的。但这忽略了旨在武装新轰炸机的昂贵核有效载荷（B61-12和LRSO）。

新的核巡航导弹的全部成本尚不清楚，因为直到2020年代末，它才能投入运营。但是，2014财年预算要求中的预算预测表明，它将是一个非常昂贵的武器系统。

仅在接下来的五年中，该导弹的设计和开发成本预计将超过10亿美元。随着武器的全尺度生产和交付的正在进行，成本可能会继续在2020年代末中期显着积累。

除了导弹本身的成本外，核弹头的生产还会增加。空军计划使用现有弹头的生命延伸版本：W80-1，W84或B61，而不是新的弹头。如果其他延长生命的计划是任何迹象，那么LRSO弹头计划可以预计将花费数十亿美元。

The Mission

B-2A轰炸机旨在穿透未被发现的防空防御措施。那么，为什么空军想在其任务中添加核巡航导弹呢？答案似乎是，到2030年，敌方防空系统的预期改善将使隐形轰炸机的隐身程度降低，因此核罢工任务需要僵持能力。

当部署在B-2A上时，LRSO将为隐形轰炸机具有核对峙能力，以在重型防空环境中执行任务，根据比利·穆林斯（Billy Mullins）的说法，空中人员战略威慑和核整合的联合主任。

But that doesn’t quite explain why the Air Force has decided to make the new cruise missile compatible withall threebombers. After all, the B-52H already provides a standoff capability. Perhaps the LRSO will be dual-capable (although this has not been stated) or that the Air Force has simply decided to add a new nuclear cruise missile to all three bombers to provide maximum flexibility.

The new nuclear cruise missile will probably have extended range and stealth features similar to or better than the Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM) that the Air Force退休2007年。空军状态that LRSO “will be capable of penetrating and surviving advanced Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) from significant stand off range to prosecute strategic targets in support of the Air Force’s global attack capability and strategic deterrence core function.”

Expanding Nuclear Capabilities

Since the B-2A does not currently carry nuclear cruise missiles, which are exclusively for B-52H bombers, but only gravity bombs (B61-7, B61-11, and B83-1), adding the LRSO will significantly increase the military capability of the B-2A weapon system.

此外，将LRSO功能添加到all threebombers would be a significant expansion of the nuclear cruise missile capacity of the U.S. bomber fleet. Currently, some 528 ALCMs are assigned to 44 B-52H bombers in four squadrons of the 2^nd和5^thBomb Wings. In the future, also the 509^th怀特曼空军基地（Whiteman AFB）的炸弹翼也将接收核巡航导弹，接收下一代轰炸机的基地也将获得核巡航导弹。

也许在能力方面最重要的是将核巡航导弹转移到隐形平台（B-2A和LRS-B）上，其渗透能力比当前的巡航导弹载体（B-52H）要好得多。这将大大改变在冲突中以及何时可以使用核巡航导弹，这将通过LRSO Cruise导弹可能比其所取代的ALCM更先进的事实进一步提高增强。

不过，花钱在B-52H上增加LRSO能力似乎有些奇怪，因为该轰炸机原定将ALCM保留到2030年并仅10年后退休。ALCM目前正在进行翻新，以确保它可以在2020年代继续使用。

总体而言，随着较旧武器的退休并增加了新武器，预计轰炸机的核能将在未来几十年发生显着变化。除了新的LRSO外，这还包括新的指导B61-12炸弹以及B61-7和B83-1炸弹的可能退休。

Eventually, both the B-2A and B-52H (as well as the non-nuclear B-1B) will be replaced by a fleet of 100 Long-Range Strike Bombers. Probably not all of them will be nuclear-capable, though, but perhaps half equipped with the B61-12 and LRSO nuclear weapons.

含义和建议

The implications of adding nuclear cruise missile capability to the B-2A stealth bomber are many. They include improved military capabilities, extensive costs, and the international perception of what U.S. nuclear arms control policy is in the 21^st世纪。

If one believes that a nuclear cruise missile is still needed, a better and less expensive alternative would be to only add LRSO capability to the next-generation bomber and phase out the nuclear capability of B-52H when the current ALCM retires around 2030.

无论哪种方式，在改进的隐形轰炸机上部署改进的核巡航导弹似乎都会挑战奥巴马政府的承诺减少核武器的作用，而不会在延长生命的计划中增加军事能力。

在核武器的持续现代化中，美国并不孤单。俄罗斯还为其轰炸机制造了新的核巡航导弹，中国正在为其一些中型轰炸机增加巡航导弹（尽管尚无迹象表明它们是核的）。法国刚刚在其战斗机上引入了新的核巡航导弹，巴基斯坦正在为飞机制作两枚核巡航导弹。

这些只是所有核武器国家正在进行的核现代化的一部分。所有人举行有关结束核武器竞争，减少核武器的数量和作用，追求无核武器的世界的演讲，但所有人都继续做他们一直做的事情：建立和部署新的核武器。

This publication was made possible by a grant from the Ploughshares Fund. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author.