The B-52s began their mission at dawn at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam in February with a crew younger than the aircraft, relying on old analog dials and old radar as they zigzagged over the Pacific Ocean, rehearsing flights in contested airspace.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that after nearly 20 years of counterinsurgency warfare in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has shifted its strategic focus to “great power competition,” a shift that current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has embraced, heralding a major shift in fiscal spending and military programs to counter the Chinese Communist Party and China. A major shift in fiscal spending and military programs to confront the Chinese Communist Party and Russia is the primary goal.
Meanwhile, the Marine Corps is moving away from the tanks they rely on and instead developing the ability to fight on islands in the Western Pacific to hold the Chinese Communist fleet at bay. The Army has recently tested its offensive capabilities using artificial intelligence and sensor networks. The Navy is developing unmanned ships.
For the Air Force, strategic bombers need to have superb global reach to project power.
The B-52 Stratofortress bomber. (Photo byRaul Arborleda/AFP)
The B-52 complements the next-generation strategic bomber, the B-21
In order to penetrate sophisticated enemy air defenses, U.S. military contractors are developing a new generation of strategic bombers, the B-21 Raider: a stealth aircraft. To complement the B-21’s tactical shortcomings, the U.S. military has turned to the B-52 Stratofortress bomber, a 1948 design that incorporates a glider design concept.
“The B-52 is like an old truck, and when they were built they were really built to be sturdy and durable.” Gen. Charles Q. Brown, chief of staff of the Air Force and former commander-in-chief of Pacific Forces, said, “The challenge for us now is to introduce new technologies and capabilities to the B-52.”
B-52 bombers operate in concert with B-1 and B-2 bombers. (Photo by Joshua SMOOT/ US AIR FORCE/ AFP)
Like a complete renovation of an old house, the aircraft’s durable airframe will be preserved while its fuel-guzzling engines, old radios, analog instrument panels and internal weapons bay will be replaced with the most modern systems.
So important are the B-52s to the Air Force’s long-term strategy that 76 B-52s will be in service until at least 2050. By then, the youngest one will be nearly 90 years old. In addition to outliving the 1960s model named for the B-52, some generals say the plane may live to celebrate its centennial, which a band later named “B-52.
Why would the U.S. Air Force adopt such an unorthodox solution for decades to come? Years ago the Pentagon assumed the Cold War was over, then spent years fighting terrorist militants in the Middle East, and such a pattern is the reason for that kind of solution.
Putting Senior B-52s in Service Pentagon Strategies Adjusted to Respond to Great Power Conflict Patterns
The reliance on older bombers also reflects the Pentagon’s efforts to strategically adjust to the great power conflict landscape as it struggles to maintain current warfighting capabilities while pursuing cutting-edge technology in the face of growing federal deficits.
Conceived at the dawn of the nuclear war era, the B-52 was originally conceived as a deterrent and, if needed, to fight a nuclear war. The eight-engine aircraft, with a wingspan almost two-thirds the length of a soccer field, was nicknamed BUFF, which stands for “Big Ugly Fatty.
In the 1960s, a dozen B-52s loaded with nuclear bombs were on constant alert, their bellies painted glossy white to reflect radiation from potential nuclear explosions in a mission codenamed “Chrome Dome.
“The B-52s are designed to withstand a variety of impacts while still being able to carry nuclear weapons on missions.” said Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 pilot and now director of the nonpartisan Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
The B-52 has been given a new battlefield role in the event of a non-nuclear conflict. originally designed to carry two nuclear bombs, the B-52 was converted to a bomber capable of carrying 60,000 pounds of conventional bombs during the Vietnam War.
B-52 bomber. (Photo by Thomas WATKINS/ AFP)
The development of air-launched cruise missiles has provided the B-52 with what the Pentagon calls a “standoff” capability, a means of launching missile weapons from a safe distance, a role the B-52 assumed at the start of the 1991 Persian Gulf War as a platform for dropping satellite-guided bombs on terrorist militants in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. It was also involved in the battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State.
In 2018, growing U.S. friction with Communist China and renewed tensions with Russia changed Pentagon guidance and led then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to identify both countries as major threats to the United States in the coming decades.
This strategic shift has spurred research and development of a range of air warfare systems, including the Loyal Wingman drone, which will fly in formation with piloted jets. This is the beginning of a new golden age for long-range bombers.
B-52s still have the edge
Last year Air Force generals called for a minimum of 220 strategic bombers for conventional missions while maintaining three nuclear strike capabilities: long-range strategic bombers, land-based ICBMs and submarine ICBMs. The number of strategic bombers requested represents a significant increase over the current requirement of 158 aircraft.
The Air Force has developed a new strategic bomber called the B-21, which is expected to enter full service beginning in the mid-to-late 1920s. The Air Force hopes to have at least 100 of these new strategic bombers. To maintain the number of strategic bombers in service, the Air Force has decided to extend the Life of the B-52, while saving money by phasing out the B-2 bombers, which are in service in smaller numbers, and the B-1B bombers, which are experiencing excessive wear and tear.
“The Air Force decided it needed airborne capability, not combat capability,” said Jeremiah Gertler, a military aviation analyst with the Congressional Research Service.
B-52 bomber. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/ AFP)
The B-52 can launch long-range missiles, it can also carry satellite-guided bombs and mines, and it is the only Air Force bomber currently available that can be armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, an airborne nuclear strike capability it has.
The B-52 has another advantage: the aircraft has arrived in the take without having to pay for it, at an original cost of slightly more than $6 million per aircraft.
By overhauling the B-52’s bomb bay, the Air Force has found a way to further enhance the B-52’s firepower. The modified B-52s will be able to carry eight precision-guided weapons in the inner compartment, with an additional 12 on the wings. If fitted with new pylons, the B-52 could also carry hypersonic missiles under development that are expected to travel 1,000 miles.
By the end of the 2130s, the U.S. strategic bomber fleet will consist of two polar opposites. One is the sleek B-21 stealth bomber, which can burst into enemy air defense radar zones, and one is the hulking B-52, which can deliver missiles from long distances in order to evade enemy radar air defense systems.
“The B-52 is a truck full of bombs.” Lt. Col. Dennis Zabka, the squadron commander and senior officer flying from Guam, said, “It can carry the largest variety of munitions of any aircraft,”
And in the Western Pacific, the B-52 bombers have been a key part of the contest as Beijing seeks to expand its sphere of influence, trying to push U.S. forces away from its shores by deploying multiple naval vessels in the South China Sea, while Washington aims to assert its role as the preeminent military force in the region.
Guam is a key U.S. outpost in this contest. The Air Force is adding bunker storage to Munitions Storage Area 1 at Anderson Air Force Base, making it one of the base’s largest bomb and missile storage facilities. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is proposing to build a $1.6 billion air defense radar area on Guam to complement the SAD anti-missile system deployed on the island in 2014.
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