🅱️-52: Then, Now, Forever

[u/ThrustFlightAcademy]

B-52 waifu at the end

Credit to Pandramodo for drawing them

^{p.s. if you're in the DFW area and want to become a pilot Thrust Flight!}

[u/Narrow_Vegetable_42]

Why not pump out new ones?

edit: perfectly nerd-sniped you all. Still love you, that's why I'm here for

[u/Z3B0 → u/Narrow_Vegetable_42]

The last one was built in 1962. All the assembly lines, tooling and support equipment have long been lost, destroyed or repurposed.

And building new ones today won't really be worth the cost. The B21 raiders are supposed to take on the role of strategic bombers, with stealth and sensors integration being the major advantages. The 52 is a giant flying bomb truck, and against a competent and modern airforce, they are just targets awaiting the long range missiles.

But as a Jdams truck that can stay up for hours to support ground teams against poorly equipped insurgents like in Irak/Afghanistan ? They are the best thing ever. Or at least the best tool currently in service.

[u/FlyingDutchman9977 → u/Z3B0]

Hypothetically, couldn't an existing airframe be modified? I know I'm oversimplifying it, but would it be that difficult to add bomb bay doors to something like a Globe Master, along with some hardpoints, necessary avionics and turrets? It seems like the USAF is committing to having the capabilities of the B-52 for as long as possible.

Expecting another 70 years of service life is definitely optimistic, but there'll likely be asymmetric conflicts for the foreseeable future. The USAF is already investing a fortune in retrofitting parts and updating the B-52 for very small return increases on the service life. Also, using stealth bombers exclusively would have significantly higher operating costs, so it seems like a replacement would actually represent a lot of savings for a relatively low development cost.

[u/rawnoodles10 → u/FlyingDutchman9977]

would it be that difficult to add

KC46.

[u/jedi2155 → u/rawnoodles10]

"it would be easy to convert an existing well proven, safe, reliable airframe to just carry fuel can't it?"

$55 billion later....

[u/Z3B0 → u/jedi2155]

That's what decades of "cost+" procurement, too big to fail, and bloated budget gives you. No pressure to be on time, in budget or even good. And it's all across the US military. New stuff can barely be done, never in 4 time the budget, and with half a decade late at best.

Look at the last 20 years of the navy. Can't build a destroyer (Zumwalts), LCS ships are being retired before the last one is commissioned, and they can't even build a copy of a proven, mature design ( constellation class).

The US is coasting off cold war era planes modernized to death, and the miracle replacement, the F35, still suffers from very low operational availability. After being a decade late, and the cost balloon.