What Bomber Aircraft Program Did President Jimmy Carter Put An End To?

President Jimmy carter convinced Congress and in the year 1977 put an end to the B-1 Bomber Program. It was according to the President one of the hardest decisions he had had to make; but none the less one which was more or less justified. Contrary to what people believed it neither weakened the United States nor did it provide relief to the Soviet Union. The argument was simple. Firstly the B-1 was not particularly effective. It relied on low level flight and each plane cost upward of a $100 million then. For a fifth of this cost the Air Force could modernize the B-52s and fit them with 20 ALCM or Air Launched Cruise Missiles. ICBMs and SLBMs were far more effective mediums of delivering Nuclear weapons and finally another stealth aircraft later to be known as the near invisible B-2 was already being carried out.

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