The B-1 was an even bigger debacle than the B-2. Its development time and cost overruns were enormous, and involved a curious scandal where the Carter administration tried the kill the project, but the Pentagon illegally kept it alive off budget so that it was still around to be revived by the Reagan administration. When it finally did roll off the production line almost two decades after the RFP went out, its obsolete stealth, engine problems, and initial inability to deploy non-nuclear weapons kept it from being used in the Gulf War. So it was widely deployed in Afghanistan, 35 years after the design phase began and almost 20 years after production. After so long time had passed the stealth technology was no longer particularly effective and so the bombers were deployed after complete air dominance had been achieved, thus negating one of the chief supposed benefits of the plane over the B-52.

I am optimistic about UAVs as a relatively inexpensive replacement for a lot of aircraft, but I fear that once their successes start to endanger the justifications for testosterone toys, internal factions within the military as well as politicians in the pockets of defense contractors will hit back hard.