Yes, I wonder why if the B-52 can still do its mission, why we don’t simply build new ones, same with the A-10. Sure, with new existing technology, and save the invention of new solution to research projects.
It can only do its mission in uncontested airspace.
“why we don’t simply build new ones, same with the A-10”
I’d say good idea if you can make them stealthy. Perhaps reshaping the exterior panels and using anti-radar-bounce coatings. The aerospace people can find ways to make that cost billions of dollars.
Jigs, dies and expertise are long gone. They were built using slide rules, not calculators.
B-52: 1955-2060 (atleast)
Enough said.
We would also have to rebuild the factory. Not impossible, just an added expense ... and then you have a 1960s heavy bomber and a 1970s close support bomber.
What we need is a Congress and a military bureaucracy that can get its act together ... and KEEP its act together ... so that our industry can design, build, and field new weapons and weapon systems before they're obsolete. Politically Correct groupthink leads to pointing fingers at the so-called "military industrial complex". That's BS. The problems begin with 525 morons and anti-patriots on Capitol Hill.