We must address the Air Force’s bomber shortage

At the Air Space Cyber exhibition, Gen. Timothy Ray dropped a bit of a bombshell: He revealed that the Air Force could potentially be facing a bomber shortage.

Ray pegged the state of the Air Force’s fleet of B-1B Lancers as the key issue. These are very capable bombers, which are able to carry as many as 84 500-pound bombs internally. There’s just one big problem: According FlightGlobal.com’s World Air Forces 2019, there are only 59 B-1Bs in service, along with 19 B-2A Spirits and 74 B-52H Stratofortresses.