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From: madmax@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Max Abramowitz)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: B-52, B-1, B-2, and F-14 in Des. Storm
Message-ID: <1991Jan22.013810.17908@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 22 Jan 91 01:38:10 GMT
References: <1991Jan21.033250.29291@cbnews.att.com>
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From: madmax@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Max Abramowitz)
In <1991Jan21.033250.29291@cbnews.att.com> ccc@anomaly.SBS.COM
(Cole Calistra) writes:

>1. I have not heard any mention of the B-1B, or the B-2 Stealth Bomber 
>   being over in Saudi Arabia, or any of our staging areas.  Are there
>   in fact any of them over there?  If not, why not?  Wouldn't the B-2
>   be even BETTER suited than the F-117 for night bombing under the Stealth
>   radar avoidance?  Wouldn't the B-1B be better for carpet bombing than 
>   the B-52 since it's faster, or are they not in service yet?

A quick answer is that both the the B-1B and the B-2 are strategic bombers.
The US gov't is not using them in the gulf, because they serve as one leg of 
our nuclear triad.  While the B-52 was at one time a strategic bomber, as 
B-52's have been replace by B-1's the Air Force has increasing focused on 
using the B-52 as a tactical bomber.  The B-1B would be better for carpet
bombing not because it is faster, but because it has a larger payload and thus
can drop more bombs.

max abramowitz
madmax@gargoyle.uchicago.edu
my opinions are my own.