ASPI : Australia Needs the B21 Bomber

23 Juli 2021

B-21 Raider bomber aircraft (image : Northrop Grumman)

Re-establishing Australia’s bomber fleet: the case for the B-21s

The government’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update provided refreshing clarity about our deteriorating strategic environment and the need for new military capabilities to address it.

These include long-range strike capabilities to impose greater cost on potential great power adversaries at greater range from Australia. The government also included a shopping list of those capabilities giving a broad outline of schedule and the scale of investment.

But there’s a big gap between where we are today and where we need to be, and the shopping list crosses that gap achingly slowly. In the vast reaches of the Indo-Pacific, range is crucial and the ADF’s long-range strike cupboard is bare.

The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has an effective combat radius of about 1000km. That can be boosted to about 1500km with the use of expensive and vulnerable tanker aircraft. But even that doesn’t cover much of our neighbourhood. It’s also easily out-ranged by Chinese missiles — it doesn’t matter how good the F-35A is if it’s taken out on the ground or its airbases destroyed.

The navy doesn’t have much to offer either. Its six submarines provide only two for operations, which doesn’t guarantee one on station to our north. They can only carry a few strike missiles and once they’re fired, it’s a one-month turnaround back to Australia to reload. And on the current Attack-class submarine schedule, it could be close to 2040 before the number of boats in our submarine fleet grows.

B-21 Raider bomber aircraft (image : USAF)

With the government providing Defence with $575bn over the coming decade, the department has to do better at getting effective strike capability into service sooner.

One option that could deliver formidable long-range strike power well before the future submarine arrives are bombers. It’s strange that bombers don’t get much attention as a military option for Australia, considering we have a long history operating them. We flew bombers out of northern Australia during WWII against the Japanese to telling effect, and it was only a decade ago that the F-111, long a mainstay of Australia’s deterrent capability, was retired.

12 B-21 stealth bomber for Australia

The only real candidate for a crewed long-range bomber is the United States’ B-21 stealth bomber, currently under development and planned to enter service late this decade. Remarkably for a developmental project, the B-21 seems to be roughly on schedule and on budget by leveraging the technologies used in earlier stealth aircraft projects. It’s using two F-35 engines, for example, but this will give it three or four times the range of the F-35. That will allow it to reach far out into the Indo-Pacific, greatly complicating the planning of any adversary operating against us or our friends. It also means it can be based deep inside Australia, far from threats, and still not need to rely on tanker aircraft.

If Australia had a squadron of 12 aircraft, it could dispatch a flight of three aircraft carrying around 30 long-range anti-ship missiles in the morning and follow it up with another in the afternoon. Unlike submarines, they can do it all again the next day. If the mission was to strike ground targets, they could each carry 50 guided bombs.

RAAF operated 2 squadron (24 units) of F-111C bomber and retired them in 2010 (photo : AeroCorner)

Granted, bombers can’t do everything that submarines can do (and the reverse is also the case). But they can potentially deliver similar results differently, for example by destroying enemy submarines in port, rather than hunting them down at sea. Or by dropping sophisticated sea mines off the enemy’s naval bases.

Certainly, that kind of capability doesn’t come cheap. The US is aiming for a unit price under $1bn. A squadron of 12 aircraft will likely total around $20-25bn once we add in bases, support systems such as simulators and maintenance facilities, and so on. That’s a lot, but compared to the $45bn to be spent on the future frigates, the $89bn on submarines, or indeed the $30bn on armoured vehicles, it’s a price worth considering. It also means we are only sending a crew of two into danger, as opposed to more than 60 on an Attack class submarine or 180 on a future frigate.

Of course, if we buy B-21s from America, not a lot of money will be spent here on local industry in their acquisition. But the Defence budget shouldn’t be seen primarily as an industry program. Moreover, the bulk of spending over the life of a military aircraft is in its sustainment, and much of that will be spent here.

There’s one other potential option, a Goldilocks solution with greater range than a F-35 but less capability and cost than the B-21. It would involve developing a bigger, multi-engined version of the Loyal Wingman uncrewed combat aircraft recently test flown by Boeing Australia. That would take a commitment from the government and Defence to invest in its development, as well as trust that autonomous systems can deliver lethal effects at long range.

But we could pursue both approaches as an insurance policy to hedge the risks we are facing.

(The Australian)