Posted on 01/18/2016 10:28:37 AM PST by C19fan
On 16 January 1991, seven Boeing B-52Gs fully loaded with AGM-86C conventional air-launched cruise missiles took flight from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana on a top-secret mission to destroy targets inside Iraq.
Those 35h missions were the first combat sorties of Operation Desert Storm. Lesser known is that the mission, dubbed Secret Squirrel, also marked the combat debut of the AGM-86C, with 35 weapons fired and 85-95% of targets successfully destroyed, according to the US air force.
A derivative of the nuclear-tipped AGM-86B, the B-52G would not have been deployed if only armed with nuclear cruise missiles and unguided bombs. Now, 25 years on, Boeing has delivered six modified rotary launchers that will again revolutionise how the veteran B-52 strategic bomber is used in combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
Awesome American military might.
Wow. Through 2040!
Sweet!
Carrying more MALD decoys creates a whole new role for the B-52, because those weapons are designed to replicate the flight path and radar signature of American combat jets to distract air defence systems. The newer version, designated MALD-J, can switch to jamming mode to suppress those same air defences, using a closely-guarded electronic warfare payload.
Could you give a bit more detail so we're SURE that it was TOP SECRET?
/S
Declassification is now triggered at 25 years:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/washington/21declassify.html?_r=0
Who knows, maybe this mission was declassified on Saturday.
"The idea was relatively simple, turn the premier long-range commercial hauler into an arsenal ship capable of carrying between 50 and 100 air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs). "
>>> The upgrade comes as the air force tried to keep its remaining 76 H-model B-52s combat-relevant through 2040 as the classified Northrop Grumman long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) enters service <<<
What’s that: 80-90 years in service?
The RA-5 Vigilante Navy carrier “bomber” passed a single bomb out the backside.
My Great-Grandfather was eight years when Custer fought at the Little Big Horn. He lived long enough to see the B-52 go into service.
Good, the 52 is solid American exceptionalism, and always gets the job done.
If only we had a President and Vice President that were that were American.
Must still be islamists in there soebarkah doesn’t like.
I have misgivings about an enemy looking at a radar signature, and not being able to be sure that it's a passenger airliner and not a bomber.
Foolish to have to fly 30 hour missions just to deliver bombs ... We’re paying too much money on expensive munitions to blow up cheap pickup trucks carrying Muslims with AK47’s and RPG’s.
Yes, you need to kill them. But at 48,000.00 per RPG?
Who is “winning” when we are destroying our military with ROE shooting gold-plated bullets from platinum weapons?
Got about as far with Air Force brass as the Arsenal Ship did with the Navy’s admirals. Maybe less.
Wonder if there is even a molecule of the original metal left on the airframes.
The range of the ALCM is 1500+ miles. Classifying everything inside that hemisphere as a 'target' would overwhelm air defense fire control.
As far as I know, there are NO SAMs with anything near a 1000 mile range.
The whole purpose of the "Cruise Missile Carrier" is to be able to launch a whole mob of ACLM while staying outside the range of enemy SAMs
Choose an airline which does not fly into a war zone. Here are a few sample Radar Cross Sections. Notice that the real nasty stuff is very, very small.
| Radar Cross Section (RCS) | ||
|---|---|---|
| RCS (m2) | RCS (dB) | |
| automobile | 100 | 20 |
| B-52 | 100 | |
| B-1(A/B) | 10 | |
| F-15 | 25 | |
| Su-27 | 15 | |
| cabin cruiser | 10 | 10 |
| Su-MKI | 4 | |
| Mig-21 | 3 | |
| F-16 | 5 | |
| F-16C | 1.2 | |
| man | 1 | 0 |
| F-18 | 1 | |
| Rafale | 1 | |
| Typhoon | 0.5 | |
| Tomahawk SLCM | 0.5 | |
| A-12/SR-71 | 0.01 (22 in2) | |
| bird | 0.01 | -20 |
| F-35 / JSF | 0.005 | -30 |
| F-117 | 0.003 | |
| insect | 0.001 | -30 |
| F-22 | 0.0001 | -40 |
| B-2 | 0.0001 | -40 |
Have to comment, amazing.
My Grandfather hunted passenger pigeons when they darkened the sky, he too saw the B-52 fly and a whole lot more.
My Great-Grandfather was an Oklahoma Territorial Marshal for Judge Parker but he did not live to see much beyond the Depression.
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