Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, addressing an Air Force Association audience on Sept. 16, announced he was "committed" to acquiring a new long-range strike system for the nation. However, he admonished the crowd, "we must not... repeat what happened with our last manned bomber."rnGates was referring, of course, to USAF's B-2 stealth program of the 1980s and 1990s. "By the time the research, development, and requirements processes ran their course," he said, "the aircraft ... turned out to be so expensive-$2 billion each-that less than one-sixth of the planned fleet of 132 was ever built." It makes "little sense," he said, to pursue a prospective B-3 bomber in the same fashion.
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