Posted on 11/23/2015 9:28:29 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
The Boeing B-52H is the vintage bomber that just won’t quit, and now the Cold War-era “Stratofortress†is being outfitted with one of America’s newest and longest-range conventional cruise missiles.
Lockheed Martin has been put on contract to arm the 54-year-old aircraft – which has outlived many of those who predicted its retirement – with the extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Weapon (JASSM) under a $9.1 million contract announced earlier this month.
In a statement to Flightglobal, LM director of long-range strike systems Jason Denney confirms that the B-52 will be updated to carry the turbofan engine-powered cruise missile internally on a new digitised rotary launcher and externally on its pylons.
The bomber has long carried conventional cruise missiles, namely the non-nuclear derivative of the AGM-86 “ALCM†that has an unclassified range of 600nm and is being retired as supplies run low.
Boeing B-52s can carry up to 20 nuclear-armed Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs) and by 2018 will probably be carrying a similar number of smarter, non-nuclear Lockheed Martin JASSM-ERs.
US Air Force
Already equipped to carry the shorter-range baseline JASSM missile on its pylons, adding the extended range variant more than doubles the bomber’s JASSM strike distance to 500nm (926km). That allows lumbering, non-stealthy B-52H to punch out targets while keeping clear of hazardous air defence systems well into the future.
According to Lockheed, the B-52 has only fired the JASSM-ER during operational testing off its external pylons, and the bomber now joins the Lockheed F-16 and soon the Boeing F-15E on the integration to-do list. B-52 integration will wrap up in 2018, as will the project to arm the F-16.
“F-15E integration will be next in line,†says Denney. “The expansion of the JASSM-ER employment aircraft set will significantly enhance the US warfighter’s first-day, first-strike capabilities.â€
The baseline JASSM missile has been in serial production for over a decade but production recently switched to the new double-range JASSM-ER (500nm unclassified).
Lockheed Martin
The beefing up of Stratofortress weaponry for conventional warfighting comes as the air force removes nuclear weapons from dozens of B-52s previously assigned to the strategic deterrence mission to achieve compliance with new strategic arms limitations agreed with Russia.
The air force currently plans to retire the supersonic Boeing/Rockwell B-1B and the B-52H in the 1940s as their Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) replacement steps in.
JASSM-ER takes advantage of several concurrent digital upgrades that will allow every B-52 to carry smart weapons internally for the first time and on its pylons. The Boeing-led Combat Network Communications Technology improvement will further allow B-52s to update their missions plans via satellite and retarget weapons in flight – as most other combat aircraft have been doing for decades.
The B-52's rotary launcher, seen here carrying up to eight ALCM cruise missiles, is being upgraded to carry fully digital smart weapons and decoys.
US Air Force
Great! Love that people keep the old bombers going.
They spend 9 million on lunch
That makes sense, it was built by the greatest generation.
There is a B-52 in the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB. It’s rippled skin shows some of the stresses it went through. What a great old bird. That being said, I was on the runway one day attending a KC-135 and was near a B-1 bomber firing up. For some unknown reason I had a desire to salute the bird and it’s pilot and watched it taxi out and take off. I didn’t know at the time but this was it’s last flight to the Museum. I also had a small part in the design of it’s engines years before. The only aircraft in my opinion in America’s arsenal that says bring it, where ever you are. We should have made many more of them.
I walked onto, stood, and crawled around one, in the cub scouts, at an US Air Force Base in the 50’s. Great experience. Fell in love, with navigation/commo and servos.
The greatest generation was the founding fathers.
The genertion youare referring to was a good one, excdpt for the fact they raised the worst generation this country ever had.
I was a comm/nav man in my early days in the Marines, Phantoms and Intruders. Who would have thought I would go on to be a jet engine designer as well as an Air Force/Nasa/Darpa designer. I was gifted with work my whole career. I only want the same for our youthful countrymen.
Good deal. Thanks.
I never worked on any Alien projects, but I did have one of my projects mentioned on the X-files once, lol.
I know.
Would love to talk with you. I am heavily involved with a B-29 and a B-24. I am crew on these planes and toured with them twice this year.
And of course, we both know that “Hang the Expense” is a famous name. How can I contact you?
$305 M for Lot 13 contract, the fifth production lot for JASSM-ER, which received full-rate production approval last year.
So it’s a mult-billion program.
$9M to $305 M — hey, it’s a rounding error for the author. He’s a journalist — he didn’t study. math.
I see no reason why they could not build more except it would not be a boon for the crooked politicians and the industrial complex!!!
You got that right!
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The career politicians in congress are so corrupt they’ve abdicated their power to obama.
Perhaps term limits would have helped?
Gee, a B-29 AND a B-24. I wonder what warbird group you are with ...
;-)
I knew I couldn’t fool you. ;-)
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