5 Reasons Why The B-52 Bomber is Destined to Outlive

         What accounts for the B-52’s longevity? Here are five reasons why the B-52 bomber is destined to outlive all of the engineers who designed it, and most of the pilots who flew it.

 

Video Credit: Out Of Your Mind

1. Relevancy. 

        The design of the B-52 gradually evolved during its early design phase into a swept-wing aircraft with eight jet engines that could fly many thousands of miles without refueling. Its range today is stated at 8,800 miles when cruising at 525 miles per hour with a 35ton bomb load, but it can be refueled in the air to fly much farther. Equipped with cruise missiles and other standoff munitions, it can attack targets anywhere in the world quickly from bases in the U.S. That’s what makes long-range bombers different from any other combat system in the joint force.

2. Versatility 

        The B-52 doesn’t just have long legs and a large payload. Unlike the B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber that first flew in 1974, the B-52 can perform nuclear deterrence missions. And unlike the B-2 Spirit that first flew in 1989, the B-52 exists in sufficient numbers to sustain conventional combat missions indefinitely against remote adversaries.

3. Survivability

        The Air Force currently plans to equip the B-52 with a very stealthy Long Range Standoff weapon to be built by Raytheon TechnologiesRTX -0.7% that will ease the challenge of penetrating defenses in order to hold strategic targets at risk. With a range of 1,500 miles, LRSO will keep B-52 survivable in the nuclear deterrence mission for decades to come. The same weapon may be adapted for use in conventional missions if other standoff weapons prove inadequate to safely attack the full array of potential targets presented by enemies in the future.

4. Availability

        One reason the Air Force intends to keep flying the B-52 through 2050 is that on any given day, most of the Stratofortresses in the fleet are ready for combat on short notice. In 2019, the mission-capable rate for the B-52 was 66%, significantly better than the B-2 bomber’s 60% rate and substantially better than the B-1 bomber’s 46% rate. The higher availability rate coupled with the larger number of B-52s in the current force means that on many days, most of the long-range strike aircraft available for combat are B-52s.