Retirement of this Jet strikes me off shooting yourself in the Foot... I can agree that getting rid off all of them and the supply chain would save money... But as some places in this world will not agree to basing rights if for example lets think... Iran goes pearshaped (Yes I know it can tank from Diego Garcia its an example). And Saudi Kuwait etc dont want to give basing rights to run the after war e.g. like whats happening in the Sandpit that is Afghanistan... they would be taking away possibly the best Long-Range CAS Aircraft that the US has and as good as the Buff is it still takes it 3 weeks to fly to the end of the Runway unless they re-engine it sorry dreaming.
hmmm I wonder the smaller bomb-bay on the B-1B could carry a lot of 30mm for a pair of GAU-8´s sorry dreaming again...