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To: 2CAVTrooper
Give the B-52 the capability to launch nuclear armed cruise missiles.

The ALCM was designed to fit in a rotary launchers that are mounted in a B-52. A B-52 could carry 20 of these missiles.

It is thermo-nuclear capable.

AFAIK, there are still 500 in active inventory.

66 posted on 06/07/2019 12:07:51 PM PDT by null and void (Stamp out philately!)
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To: null and void

IIRC, with the retirement of the B-52G, the B-52 fleet is no longer certified to carry the ALCM.

The G model was required by SALT II to have the wing glove extensions for satellite verification due to their ability to carry the ALCM.

“Under the provisions of the SALT II treaty, aircraft carrying cruise missiles must be readily identifiable as such by reconnaissance satellites, so the AGM-86B-equipped B-52G was provided with non-functional wing root fairings known as “strakelets”. The modification had to be visible from above so that spy satellites could confirm the number of cruise missile-capable aircraft, and it had to be made aerodynamically and structurally integral with the aircraft so that the change could not be quickly altered or moved from one aircraft to another.”

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b52_15.html


69 posted on 06/07/2019 2:23:43 PM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (I survive on Caffeine & Hate & sometimes Whiskey.)
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