From the article: "After the drawdown, 45 airplanes will be left in the operational B-1 fleet." The B-1 never really recovered from the Carter B-1A supersonic bomber transition to the the Reagan B-1B subsonic fuel leaker. Engines that couldn't handle a bird strike and poor reliability kept most B-1 pilots in the simulators to maintain currency. Sad to see them go, but we need to make room for effective and reliable bombers.