SERVICE: Air Force
DESCRIPTION: Air Combat Command's first-line long-range heavy bomber
FEATURES:
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is built to fly at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet, carrying conventional or nuclear weapons. In addition to bombing missions, it can perform maritime operations and is highly effective when used for ocean surveillance, monitoring 140,000 square miles of ocean surface in two hours. It also assists the Navy in anti-ship and mine laying operations. B-52s are equipped with an electro-optical viewing system that uses forward looking infrared and low light level television sensors to augment its terrain avoidance system, further improving low-level flight capability. Beginning in 1989, selected B-52s were modified with a global positioning system that gave them enhanced, worldwide precision navigation capability. Aerial refueling gives the B-52 a range limited only by crew endurance. The G model's unrefueled range is more than 7,500 miles (12,000 km), while the H model, with more efficient engines, has a unrefueled range beyond 8,800 miles (14,200 km). The aircraft's flexibility was evident during the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War, in which, after three decades of service, it was the first aircraft to strike Iraqi forces on Jan. 16, 1991. B-52s dropped approximately one third of the total tonnage of bombs delivered by U.S. air forces during Operation Desert Storm. They struck wide area troop concentrations, fixed installations and bunkers, and destroyed the morale of Iraq's Republican Guard.BACKGROUND:
For almost 40 years, B-52 Stratofortresses have made up the United States' primary manned strategic bomber force. The B-52A first flew in 1954 and the B model entered service in 1955. A total of 744 B-52s were built with the last one, an H model, delivered in October 1962. Only G and H models are still in the Air Force inventory. G models were delivered in February 1959, the Air Force's first missile carrying bomber. It featured a shorter tail fin, a redesigned wing with integral fuel tanks and fixed under-wing tanks. It can carry 20 AGM-69 attack missiles, six under each wing and eight in the bomb bay. Some G models have been modified to carry other missiles, including the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile. The first of 102 H models was delivered to Strategic Air Command in May 1961. These were modified to carry missiles, including a bomb bay rotary launcher that can carry eight additional AGM-86B cruise missiles in addition to its external load of six under each wing.
