The USAF has been saying this off and on I believe for at least 10 years. In 2001/2002 Rumsfeld stated that this was a possibility, and in the end 33 were retired which allowed the remaining 60 and later 67 aircraft to emerge as one of the most capable, reliable, and effective weapons ever. It was 17 years after enetering service that the bone really came into its own, and this was after reducing the fleet by 1/3! As far as this news goes I have no idea what it means, but the B-1B is the most valuable bomber in service today and I hope no one in the USAF or congress is considering retiring this great aircraft. In the past 8 years the B-1B has been the main CAS weapon in Afghanistan saving hundreds if not thousands of lives, and no other platform in existance can perform it's role in Southwest Asia like it has. In recent years all I have heard is how successful the B-1B has been in Afghanistan and Iraq, in fact I think I even read in Osprey's B-1 units in combat that the RAF has been so impressed with the performance of the B-1B that it plans to reaquire heavy long range bombers in the near future! So I hope this story is not true, in fact it makes no sense to me!