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The B-52 has been a stalwart of the U.S. Air Force since the 1950s. Eighty years after its introduction, the bomber is still relevant, with new variants planned to extend the airframe's service life for decades to come. Indeed, the B-52 will likely reach the 100 year mark of active-duty service.
When the B-52 first flew, aviation itself was only 50 years old, so as of today, the B-52 has been in the Air Force for more than half of the time that humans have been flying airplanes. Along the way, it has received consistent upgrades – to avionics, engines, weaponry, and more – allowing the 50s-era airframe to stay useful in a modern air force.
The B-52J is the latest iteration, with a new Rolls Royce F-130 engine that promises to improve fuel efficiency and stealth performance. It also brings a new radar system borrowed from the F/A-18 Super Hornet, as well as improved weaponry. //
That presents lots of options for un-aliving bad guys. Which, of course, is the whole purpose of the Air Force and all our armed forces, at least in the non-DEI world: to close with and destroy the enemy by fire, maneuver, and shock effect, or, in the case of the Stratofortress, bombing bad guys back into the Stone Age. //
War Planner
25 minutes ago edited
Thank you, Ward,
Almighty proud here! It's how I got my sobriquet: worked for USAF SAC DOCODW writing the SIOP (war plan) for these beasts. You know the safe you saw in Dr Strangelove? Yeppers, that's where my work product went every six months whether we needed it or not!
..kinda feel like Steve McQueen in Papillion on the raft floating out to sea, "I'm still here you bastards!"
Soldier on, Buffs*, soldier on! //
War Planner C. S. P. Schofield
19 minutes ago edited
SACism:
A B-52 is powered by engines that generate the horsepower of 100 railroad locomotives and is constructed with 25 miles of wire and enough aluminum to make 1,000 garbage cans.
..and it flies just like driving 100 locomotives hauling 1,000 garbage cans with 25 miles of wire!