See ASPI article"Senior US official says Washington would consider supplying B-21 bombers to Australia" dated August 23, 2022.
Pete Comment
Quite an eye watering ASPI title. I've hithertoo discounted Australia buying B-2 or
B-21 stealth bombers on cost grounds. I've also always assumed that, as with the
F-22s, the US would guard its technical supremacy by never selling stealth bombers, even to Five Eye allies.
The B-2s' cost is around US$4 Billion each in US 2022 dollars (only US$2 Billion in 1997 dollars) for the 21 B-2s ever built - and only for the USAF. B-2s are also the most expensive aircraft to maintain in history - with each B-2 flight hour requiring 119 hours of maintenance.
Even if 100 new improved B-21s are sold to the USAF the price for a foreign customer ie. Australia (adding training, spares, basing, profit etc) would surely cost more than AU$2 Billion each. If the US ever gave the green light Australia might be looking at purchasing 12.
At that price only nuclear weapons delivery would make sense and differentiate Australian B-21s from the Super Hornet and F-35A fighter-bombers that Australia already has.
Still, I think an Australian nuclear deterrent (against China) would make more sense than 8 AUKUS SSNs (that could only project 25 tonnes of conventional high explosive each with their torpedoes and missiles). So I now think AUKUS SSNs are not what Australia needs - because they won't deter a nuclear armed China.
Other arms of an Aussie nuclear deterrent might include:
- long range missiles (see the 25m high "Gilmours")
and
- DSME KSS-III SSBs (ie. conventionally propelled ballistic missile submarines). Kym Bergmann at APDR has written an excellent article on the KSS-IIIs.
Even little Israel has been able to afford a nuclear triad, with Jericho MRBMs to ICBMs, nuclear armed fighter bombers and Dolphin SSBs. This allows Israel to pursue independent foreign and defence policies - without following the US into every war startable.