The Only 3 Air Forces Still Equipped With Strategic Bombers

During the Second World War, the Allied powers carried out some of the largest strategic bombing campaigns in history in both Europe and Asia, solidifying the role of strategic bombers in warfare for decades to come. When the United States deployed a pair of Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers on separate missions to Japan to deliver the only two nuclear weapons ever deployed in war, they demonstrated the importance of having a capable strategic bombing force in the new nuclear order.
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The United States Air Force, alongside its peer organizations in the West, quickly developed long-range strategic bombers, aircraft that were designed to deliver nuclear strikes and avoid anti-aircraft defenses, and the Soviet Union quickly began the development of similar platforms. Over time, however, air forces developed next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile systems (ICBMs) which could strike enemy targets from air bases in their home nations. This significantly reduced the need for strategic bombers.
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By the time the 1980s and 1990s came around, the United States Armed Forces, alongside the Soviet Union’s, had been able to develop Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs), which could allow submarines cloaked in the stealth of water to serve as platforms for the deployment of nuclear weapons. This further decreased the strategic importance of nuclear-capable bombers, as other nuclear systems could perform similar nuclear delivery missions.
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With long-range strategic bombers seemingly obsolete in a world of high-tech missiles and next-generation submarines, most militaries have decided to retire their nuclear bombers. The United Kingdom exclusively uses the Vanguard submarine class as its nuclear deterrent, and France uses a combination of air-launched missiles from fighter jets and nuclear-capable submarines.
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While the United States and the Soviet Union did also develop ballistic missile submarines and long-range air and surface-launched missiles, neither the United States Air Force nor the Soviet Air Force (or the Russian Air Force that succeeded it) has retired their long-range strategic bombers. China has also developed strategic bombers, which serve as a critical element in the country’s nuclear arsenal.
As a result, only three nations remain today with operational strategic bombing forces, with the United States, Russia, and China maintaining the aircraft in their inventory. Let’s take a deeper look at the global strategic bombing force and explore the aircraft that each of these nations operates.
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1 United States Air Force (USAF)
Number of strategic bombers in service: 3
The United States Air Force operates three different strategic bombers, each of which serves its own unique purpose and has a very different design. The aircraft are as follows:
Aircraft type: Number in the United States Air Force inventory: Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit 20 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress 76 Rockwell B-1 Lancer 45
The B-2 Spirit is an aircraft so technologically advanced that is entirely in a class of its own. The B-2 Spirit was first designed in the late 1980s and entered service with the United States Air Force in 1997. It was, and remains, the only operational stealth bomber in service today, and was designed as a flying wing that features impressive radar-evading technology, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman.
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The aircraft does have some drawbacks, such as its relatively low payload capacity (in comparison to larger strategic bombers) and its subsonic top speed. Due to these weaknesses, the United States Air Force operates two other strategic bombers which serve these roles.
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The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress first took to the skies in 1952 and remains in operation today and serves as a high-capacity strategic bomber. The Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a supersonic variable-sweep bomber, began development in 1973 and remains in service today as the Air Force’s only supersonic strategic long-range bomber.
2 People’s Liberation Army Air Force
Number of strategic bombers in service: 1
The Chinese Air Force operates a strategic bombing force. However, it consists of a single aircraft type. Over 200 Xi’an H-6 strategic bombers remain in service today and the aircraft also originally served in the Egyptian Air Force and the Iraqi Air Force.
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The aircraft is a license-built version of the Soviet-designed Tupolev Tu-16, and delivery of the aircraft began in the late 1950s following a license production agreement made with the USSR. The aircraft, interestingly enough, actually remains in production today even though more than 200 have already entered service.
3 Russian Air Force
Number of strategic bombers in service: 1
Aircraft type: Number in the Russian Air Force inventory: Tupolev Tu-22 58 Tupolev Tu-95 47 Tupolev Tu-160 15
With three different strategic bombers still in service today, the Russian Air Force operates a smaller force than China in terms of the number of aircraft. The Tupolev Tu-22 is roughly similar in design and purpose to the American B-1 Lancer, which entered service in the late 1960s and also features a variable-sweep wing design.
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The Tupolev Tu-95, a large turboprop strategic bomber, originally entered service in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and remains in service today as a bomber but has also been modified to serve as a platform for guided missiles. The Tupolev Tu-160, another variable-sweep wing supersonic bomber, was first introduced in 1987, and the plane continues to be produced today, according to Newsweek.