The Air Force is proposing a $5 billion down payment for a next-generation long-range strike aircraft, money the service hopes will propel research and development needed to meet the Pentagon's goal of fielding a new bomber fleet by 2018, according to sources familiar with new Air Force investment plans. This robust commitment -- detailed in the Air Force's proposed six-year spending plan, which was submitted to the Office of the Secretary of Defense earlier this month -- would accelerate bomber...
