Military budget targets B-52 fleet, Guard units

WASHINGTON – To save money to modernize the military, the Pentagon is proposing to accelerate the retirement of nearly 40 percent of the nation’s B-52 bomber fleet and completely eliminate other aircraft, including the U-2 spy plane.

Under the Air Force’s plan, expected to be included in President Bush’s 2007 budget proposal next week, the B-52 fleet would be cut from 92 to 56. The Air Force intends to eliminate other planes, including the F-117 Stealth fighter. The moves are expected to save about $2.6 billion.

The Air Force plan to eliminate 36 B-52s and speed the retirement of other planes is also expected to be part of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s proposal for a streamlined, modernized military when he releases the Quadrennial Defense Review on the same day the president unveils his budget.

The quadrennial review will probably include an Army recommendation to reduce the number of National Guard combat brigades from 34 to 28.

Heavy-armored units in Washington, Idaho, Louisiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, Mississippi and Tennessee are the likely targets, said Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke, president of the association for top guard officers, the Adjutants General Association of the United States.

The Air Force plan is likely to affect operations at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Barksdale is home to 63 B-52s. Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota has 25, California’s Edwards Air Force Base has one and Oklahoma’s Tinker Air Force Base has three.

Capt. Todd White, a public affairs officer at Barksdale, said he couldn’t comment on the proposal to reduce the number of B-52s until the plan is released on Feb. 6.

But he said the Air Force has a history of phasing out old planes and weapons systems and replacing them with new ones.

“It’s kind of an evolution, instead of a sheer drop-off cliff,” White said.

Since 1963, Barksdale has had a fleet of a more modern version of the B-52, which made its debut in 1954. The long-range bombers at Barksdale can carry up to 20 cruise missiles and a heavy payload of other weapons.

A draft of the quadrennial review proposes “reducing the B-52 force to 56 aircraft and use savings to fully modernize B-52s, B-1s and B-2s to support global strike operations.”

It also suggested cutting full-time Air Force personnel by 40,000 and speeding the retirement of U-2 spy planes and F-117 fighter planes.

Bush’s budget is expected to call for keeping the National Guard at its current level of about 333,000 troops.

But Congress has authorized the guard to grow to 350,000 and may insist on it.

Christopher Bolkcom, a defense analyst at the Congressional Research Service, predicted the Pentagon would have difficulty winning congressional approval for some of its proposals.