MORE IS BETTER: 19 is Not Enough: Inside the Air Force’s Rush Order for New B-21 Stealth Bombers.

Operation Epic Fury has yet again shown that stealth bombers are a first-night necessity for American airpower. It started on night one. “American B-2 bombers, which, again, similar to Midnight Hammer, flew a 37-hour roundtrip sortie from the continental United States, dropping precision penetrating munitions on Iranian underground facilities across the southern flank and slightly deeper,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said at the Pentagon on Mar. 2.

The success of the B-2 bombers with their stealth and precision is indispensable. The problem, of course, is that the entire B-2 fleet consists of just nineteen aircraft. 20% of the fleet was in action on the first night of Operation Epic Fury.

Fortunately, as fighters and tankers were flowing toward bases in the Middle East last week, the Air Force quietly accelerated production of the B-2’s replacement, the new B-21 Raider stealth bomber, by a hefty 25%. The Feb. 23 rush order was an unusual move, made possible by a sophisticated production line and drama-free flight tests. The B-21 is literally the first stealth aircraft ever to run ahead of schedule. But the one main reason for the surge is clear: America’s air force is desperately in need of more stealth bombers.

There’s never enough of everything to go around, but the deep cuts we made in the ’90s were dangerously foolish.