Mighty B52 still Soldier On!

tankfanatic SG

Dude, Bin Laden is still out there fondling young boys and smoking the best Afghan pot.

dude Bin Laden hide in a cave

What did the B52 raids achieved?

Killed a lot of schoolchildren is what.

lol... the last time i heard this kind of craap is back then when the soviet invade afganistan...

How scared were the VC and NVA? Dunno man, they won the war as I remember.

you have to diferentiate NVA and VC man... they were different.

The only ones dying in masses from B-52 raids are usually civilians.

unfortunately this one is true

The B-52 being used in Vietnam was the first sign that the US had lost the plot on that one. If anyone was scared during the Vietnam War it certainly wasn't the VC or NVA if you get my drift...

i only know a person who scared sheetless.. that is united state president.. scared of his approval ratings

The people who really knew how to fight insurgents were the Brits and the Aussies. And they never use strategic bombers.

they knew their game indeed because of their experience in malaya and of course the help of the malaysian senoi praaq. ..

Not only are the B-52 expensive to maintain, each flight costs a lot of money: the big bomb load, the fuel, wear and tear on a 60-yr old plane... all these costs money. But the return seem to be quite low so far.

dude ... during the vietnam the archlight mission were so effective the nva have to dig hills to hide their heavy artillery....

good weapon system are expensive..you want cheap one get a kite and hang some grenade with it.

tankfanatic SG

the most important achievement of the BUFF is this..

The defense of Khe Sanh in 1968 developed into the largest and most significant air campaigns to date in Southeast Asia. Around-the-clock strikes were made against enemy forces besieging the base, with SAC bombers accounting for approximately 60,000 tons of bombs being dropped. With fighter-bomber support being limited by the monsoon season, the B-52 was particularly valuable in countering enemy aggression. In conducting this bombing, the B-52 crews relied upon ground-based radar to direct them to their targets, where they destroyed tons of North Vietnamese supplies. These air attacks helped break the siege on Khe Sanh and force the North Vietnamese to withdraw.

Fingolfin_Noldor SG

Erm.. a plane is only as good as the ammunition and electronics it has. It's not the plane's fault when the objective wasn't achieved, rather it wasn't equipped enough to do the job.

The point of the B-52 is to act as a uber bomb truck and in that function it has performed admirably. Not least, the B-2 costs way more to maintain than the B-52.

Newer aircraft costs a lot more to develop these days and already the B-1 fleet has shrunk from its original size. Never mind the B-2s. No more will be built. The next alternative is a variant of the F-22 which Lockheed Martin proposed but whether that will see the light of day remains to be seen. The military budget in the US is under incredible strain right now.

moca SG

No, nothing wrong with the plane and a credit to the builders that it is still flying and fighting.

What I meant was it is wrong to use it to bomb insurgents, who usually operate among civilians.

moca SG

...keep the sarcarsm away, please.

davechng SG

yeah! not all sqdrn in Langley switch to F22! there is still a few sqdrn flying the F15C!

DaveC

davechng SG

Hi! yes! that is F-4E actually Qf-4E flying from Tyndall in FLorida! ANyway! they use to be target tugs! thats why U see the small humb on the back of the F-4E..now it is maintain by the AIrforce in Tyndall as a heritage of the USAF!

Am glad we can still see some USAF F-4E flying!

DAveC

chanjyj SG

Qf-4E.... Umanned aircraft Shocked Shocked (just googled it)
We should go develop some.. then we wont need pilots anymore

tankfanatic SG

No, nothing wrong with the plane and a credit to the builders that it is still flying and fighting.

What I meant was it is wrong to use it to bomb insurgents, who usually operate among civilians.

my bad, sorry

...keep the sarcarsm away, please.

awwww come on... you no fun....

duotiga83 SG

oic..so is in the transition phase Very Happy

davechng SG

No! not really.. talking to the guys in LAngley is that there is not enough raptors to go around .. so only 1 or 2 sqdrn gets the F22 and the rest of the wing will still fly the F15C....

DaveC

duotiga83 SG

Boeing Awarded $30 Million U.S. Air Force Contract to Upgrade B-52s
ST. LOUIS, May 22, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a $30 million U.S. Air Force contract to upgrade the B-52 fleet's Integrated Weapons Interface Units (IWIU), providing flight crews with enhanced smart weapon visibility and control.

"IWIUs represent a significant upgrade to the B-52 fleet," said Scot Oathout, Boeing B-52 program director. "This contract will allow us to upgrade existing fleet equipment and support future enhancements that will keep the B-52 flying a very important mission for our armed forces all over the world."

Boeing will replace the current, three-piece interface units with a single, state-of-the-art IWIU. Boeing will assemble and test the units at its St. Charles, Mo., weapons facility, before shipping them to Wichita, Kans., where the company will prepare the modification kits for final delivery and provide engineering support during customer installation.

"Boeing, along with our Air Force customer, is committed to developing cost effective and innovative solutions for the B-52," said Oathout. "The new IWIU also can be used in future modifications that could double the platform's smart weapons capacity."

Boeing will deliver the first kit in October 2008. The Air Force will perform the modifications using contract field teams at the main B-52 operating bases in Barksdale, La., and Minot, N.D. The modifications are expected to be completed by late 2011.

Frm Boeing

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