Delta Force
Banned
What if Curtis LeMay and his congressional allies had succeeded in their efforts to procure 150 B-70 bombers for SAC?
WI: B-70 Valkyrie Enters Service
- Thread starter Delta Force
- Start date
usertron2020
Donor
Those 150 B-70s go the way of the B-36 Peacemaker and B-58 Hustler, both limited nuclear strategic bombers with no other real role in combat. Question: As a threat, would any be available by the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Ninja'd by CalBear
And don't forget what the Mig-25 Foxbats would have done to them...
Ninja'd by CalBear
And don't forget what the Mig-25 Foxbats would have done to them...
Okay.
Two big piles of money, although the Soviets would have at least some aircraft that could serve a dual use (as the MiG-25/MiG-31 eventually did)
usertron2020
Donor
Guys, the Soviets DID build up their air defenses against the B-70 [1] anyways, showing that the inertia of the American Military-Industrial Complex couldn't hold a candle to it's Soviet counterparts.
1] Specifically this is why the Mig-25 was never cancelled, even though short ranged high altitude high speed interception was all it was really good for.
AFAIK, however, the Mig-31 is a more capable aircraft.
Orville_third
Banned
Good news: They would look cool and they could be used for research once they were done being bombers (or NASA could borrow one). They could also launch a D-21 with a few mods someone could think up.
Bad news: They would cost a lot of money and would likely never be used. Also, using them might butterfly away a famous film scene.*
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKaYOW9zMoY
Bad news: They would cost a lot of money and would likely never be used. Also, using them might butterfly away a famous film scene.*
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKaYOW9zMoY
marathag
Banned
Question: As a threat, would any be available by the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Need a PoD back to Ike, he slowed the program originally
Yeah a Mach 2.8 Interceptor is going to engage a Mach 3+ bomber. Soviet Air Defense products didn't work against the SR-71, multiple penetrations by B-70's is going to give their air defense network hysterics.
Delta Force
Banned
I've read that the total program cost was budgeted at $5 billion, 1960s dollars of course. That works out to around $33.33 million each. The operational costs would have been quite high, but unit costs wouldn't have been too high.
Of course, there's the question of what the Valkyries would actually do in SAC or elsewhere once in service.
According to this, the first B-70 wing was scheduled to become operational by 1966.Question: As a threat, would any be available by the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
I suppose the threat of the B-70 did work in some way then. Nothing beats having a rival build a defense against something you don't even have.
The MiG-25 was developed into other roles though, such as reconnaissance. It also could have been developed for attacks against expensive assets such as tankers, and radiation emitting AWACS and electronic warfare aircraft.
Also, I've read that some autocratic states prize the MiG-25 and MiG-31 as symbols of military power. They usually can't operate them to their potential, but that doesn't mean they can't show them off.
Delta Force
Banned
I don't think the SR-71 ever flew into the heart of the Soviet Union, just over the Kamchatka Peninsula.
marathag
Banned
Don't believe the SR-71 actually went over Soviet territory.Yeah just like the Mach-3 SR-71 couldn't enter hostile airspace.
80,000 feet still lets you look a long ways in, though
Delta Force
Banned
Eisenhower was a proponent of missiles over bombers. I have his quote in The Need for Speed timeline I was working on:
“…we were talking about bows and arrows… [in the] time of gunpowder when we spoke of bombers in the missile age."
The Soviets would possibly pour more resources into more advanced versions of the MiG-25. Other than that... They won't build their own version. I think their lack of success in long range bombers was what prompted them to invest in missiles.
Dayton is the only city east of the Mississippi I want to visit, and that museum is exactly why.
Dayton is the only city east of the Mississippi I want to visit, and that museum is exactly why.