Stealthy New Nuclear Cruise Missile Aims to Deter the Enemy

Posted: August 8th, 2017

By Lieutenant General (Ret.) David Deptula

Lieutenant General (Ret.) David A. Deptula was the principal attack planner for the Operation Desert Storm air campaign; commander of no-fly-zone operations over Iraq in the late 1990s; director of the air campaign over Afghanistan in 2001; joint task force commander (twice); and air commander for the 2005 South Asia tsunami relief. He is a fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours - 400 in combat - including multiple command assignments in the F-15. During his last assignment as the Air Force's first deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), he oversaw the transformation of America's military ISR and drone enterprises. Deptula retired from the Air Force in 2010, and currently serves as Dean of the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies, and holds the Risner/Perot Chair as a Senior Military Scholar at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

America’s strategic bomber force is comprised of some of the Air Force’s oldest aircraft. The B-52 has served since the 1950s and will remain a valuable aircraft for decades more. However, this is contingent on developing the Long Range Standoff cruise missile to replace the aging Air-Launched Cruise Missile. This new cruise missile will have the range and targeting accuracy to keep the B-52 out of harm’s way in the face of increasingly advanced countermeasures and ensure the B-52 remains a credible piece of the United States nuclear deterrent.

The LRSO will also increase the versatility of more advanced aircraft, such as the B-2, F-35, and the forthcoming B-21. Though the LRSO would add more capabilities, critics warn these capabilities and associated costs are unnecessary, and the LRSO could instead compel adversaries to develop new weapons or countermeasures of their own.

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