Description: Although the United States Air Force has traditionally depended upon a manned bomber force to fulfill its mandate, rapidly changing technology and evolving service commitments have made it difficult to obtain adequate funding for bombers. For more than 45 years, senior Air Force leaders, both military and civilian, have struggled to convince many decision-makers in the White House and in Congress that modern manned bomber forces were needed, acceptable, and a affordable. In this study, Donnini produces one of the most exhaustive analyses ever undertaken of Congressional sub-committee decision-making in the funding of defense procurement initiatives. He concludes that no program achieved the success measurement of deployment with the force structure as originally requested, and only two, the B-1B and the B-2, received approval to acquire lesser numbers of aircraft for operational use.

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