When the B-52 Stratofortress made its first flight in 1952, no one could have imagined that this bomber would survive not only the Cold War, but the turn of the century, as well!
Today, more than 70 years later, it not only remains in service, but is also undergoing another modernization that can ensure its combat effectiveness for several more decades!
Now let’s take a look at how an ordinary turboprop project from the mid-20th century became a symbol of the strategic power of the 21st century!
Today, more than 70 years later, it not only remains in service, but is also undergoing another modernization that can ensure its combat effectiveness for several more decades!
Now let’s take a look at how an ordinary turboprop project from the mid-20th century became a symbol of the strategic power of the 21st century!
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00:00When the B-52 Stratofortress made its first flight in 1952, no one could have imagined
00:06that this bomber would survive not only the Cold War, but the turn of the century as well.
00:12Today, more than 70 years later, it not only remains in service, but is also undergoing
00:17another modernization that can ensure its combat effectiveness for several more decades.
00:22Now let's take a look at how an ordinary turboprop project from the mid-20th century
00:27became a symbol of the strategic power of the 21st century.
00:36Like a significant portion of America's iconic aircraft fleet, the B-52 was primarily
00:41driven by the need to neutralize the threat posed by the Soviet Union.
00:46The choice in favor of who would provide the U.S. Air Force with new nuclear bombers was
00:50obvious.
00:51By World War II, Boeing had become a household name thanks to their famous B-17 Flying Fortress
00:57which successfully carried out missions in the Pacific and European theaters of war.
01:02And while the company was rolling off its nearly 4,000th B-29 Superfortress bomber in
01:07November of 1945, Air Material Command presented its requirements for a new bomber, which was
01:13intended to be a replacement for the Convair B-36 Peacemaker strategic bomber.
01:19The list of characteristics included availability of a crew of five or more turret gunners and
01:24six-man relief, airspeed of 300 mph at 34,000 feet, combat radius of 5,000 miles, armament
01:32in the form of 20mm cannons and 10,000 pounds of various munitions.
01:38Then within a few months, speed requirements increased to 400 mph, flight range to 12,000
01:44miles, and the need to deliver nuclear weapons was added to the command's list of wants.
01:49The main stumbling block was the choice between turboprop and turbojet engines.
01:54Military Command was concerned about the high fuel consumption of the jet engines of the
01:58day, ordering Boeing to use one of the first B-52 prototypes, the 464-40, which replaced
02:04Westinghouse J-40 turbojet engines with turboprops.
02:08On this basis, even the generals argued with each other more than once.
02:12General Howard A. Craig, deputy chief of staff for Material, was not enthusiastic about the
02:17B-52 jet, believing that these engines were not yet advanced enough to allow them to skip
02:22the turboprop intermediate stage, while Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development
02:27General Curtis LeMay, in contrast, argued in favor of more powerful jet engines, insisting
02:33that range problems could be solved a little later simply by improving the aircraft's airframe,
02:38and demanded that the proposed tandem pilot seating arrangement, in the style of the earlier
02:43Boeing B-47 Stratojet bomber, be changed to a side-by-side arrangement to reduce pilot
02:48fatigue and improve morale during long flights.
02:52As a result of all these disputes and deep thinking requests for the characteristics
02:56of the device, after all the edits, settled on a speed of 500 miles per hour and a flight
03:01range of 8,000 miles.
03:04Near the end of the Stratofortress design, there was even a moment when Boeing engineers
03:08George S. Scherer, Art Carlson, Von Blumenthal, Maynard Pennell, Bob Whittington, and Vice
03:14President of Engineering Ed Wells bought the necessary materials at a hobby store and designed
03:19the B-52 prototype literally garage-style at the Van Cleve Hotel in Dayton, Ohio.
03:26Based on the basic layout of the B-47 Stratojet with 35-degree swept wings, eight engines
03:31were set up with four underwing nacelles and bicycle landing gear with wingtip outrigger
03:37wheels.
03:38The result of the Dayton weekend was the ideal shape of a subsonic aircraft made of balsa
03:43wood and painted silver.
03:45The military was very pleased with the work of the engineers and the B-52 went into print.
03:50The first Stratofortress took to the skies in April 1952, three years after the USSR
03:56developed its first atomic weapon.
03:58In June 1955, the bomber entered service with the 93rd Heavy Bombardment Wing at Castle
04:04Air Force Base, California.
04:06And by January 1957, three U.S. Air Force B-52s flying at an average speed of 525 miles
04:13per hour successfully carried out Operation Power Flight, setting a record for the first
04:19non-stop flight around the world on a jet engine in 45 hours, 19 minutes.
04:24This one, of course, was not the last.
04:27Over the next few years, the B-52s set other world records, such as the world record for
04:3112,532 miles without refueling, flying from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan,
04:39to Torahana Air Base, Spain.
04:41To date, the only modification of the Stratofortress in U.S. service is the B-52H, which emerged
04:47as a derivative of the B-52G with the same basic airframe, but new Pratt & Whitney TF33P3
04:54turbofan engines.
04:56These, despite initial reliability problems corrected by 1964 as part of the Hot Fan program,
05:02provided the bomber with significantly better performance and fuel economy than the Pratt
05:06& Whitney J57 turbojet.
05:08Thanks to the new engines, the B-52's top speed increased to 650 miles per hour, cruise
05:14speed increased to 509 miles per hour, and its range without refueling was now about
05:198,800 miles.
05:21Additionally, the model received a new tail turret armed with a single 20-mm M61A1 Vulcan
05:27rotary cannon, an avionics suite optimized for low-altitude operation, including Advanced
05:32Capability Radar with terrain-following function, and a new fire control system.
05:39The U.S. Air Force continues to rely on the B-52, affectionately calling it the Buff as
05:44it remains the most effective and cost-effective heavy bomber in the absence of sophisticated
05:49air defense, especially when it comes to post-Cold War U.S. missions against countries
05:54with limited defensive capabilities.
05:57These bomb carriers have not only been integral to the success of ground operations like Iraqi
06:01Freedom, but also have the highest mission readiness rate of the three types of heavy
06:06bomber operated by the U.S. Air Force during the 2000-2001 period.
06:11The no less legendary Rockwell B-1 Lancer had an average readiness rate of 53.7%, and
06:17the new-fashioned Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bombers had an average readiness rate of 30.3%,
06:24versus an impressive 80.5% for the Stratofortress.
06:29But even legends need updates.
06:31That's why in April of 2020 the U.S. Air Force issued a request for proposals for 608 commercial
06:36engines launching the Commercial Engine Re-engineering Program, CERP, under which General Electric
06:42offered its CF-34-10 and Passport turbofan engines, Pratt & Whitney showed up with its
06:48PW-800, and Rolls-Royce offered the BR-725 designated F-130.
06:55By September 2021, the U.S. Air Force chose the latter as the winner, announcing plans
06:59to buy 650 of these engines for $2.6 billion.
07:04Despite the fact that the Air Force had previously considered the option of swapping the bombers
07:09from eight engines to four, CERP still retained all eight of them.
07:13While some industry experts believe that four-engine operation would be more efficient, opponents
07:18rightly point out that such an upgrade would require a redesign of the airframe, as well
07:23as additional changes to systems and control surfaces.
07:27This in turn greatly increased the project timeline, complexity and cost, which the U.S.
07:32Air Force certainly did not want.
07:34In addition to new engines and nacelles, one of the most radical upgrades will be the
07:39installation of the new AN-APG-79B4 AESA radar in the B-52J, which replaced older, mechanically
07:46scanned arrays.
07:48The new AN-APG-79 radar will give the B-52J significantly better radar range, accuracy
07:54and most importantly, resistance to enemy countermeasures, not to mention general awareness
07:59of what's happening on the battlefield.
08:02While the immediately noticeable update was the return of the bomber's nose to its classic
08:07look, we're talking about completely eliminating the pair of fairings under the nose, the right
08:12one housing the Forward-Looking Infrared System, FLIR, and the left one housing the Westinghouse
08:17AN-AVQ-22 Low-Light Level Television, LLTV.
08:23Together they formed the Electro-Optical Viewing System, EVS, which helped crews fly safely
08:29at extremely low altitudes.
08:30However, it was completely replaced by more modern targeting pods, Lockheed Martin Sniper
08:35or Northrop Grumman Lightning mounted on pylons under the left wings of B-52H bombers.
08:41The rendering presented by Boeing in 2022 left many questions about whether the underwing
08:46store's pylons, which lack any sort of fine detail, were made to demonstrate a specific
08:51design or simply placeholders.
08:54The one under the right wing, which is not clearly visible, may be intended to demonstrate
08:58loading with some kind of large missile, for example the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response
09:04Weapon Arrow hypersonic missile, if this project had not been cut in FY 2025.
09:10It's pity because in March of 2024 the testing of the AGM-183A Arrow from a B-52H near Guam
09:17was done successfully.
09:19Although this does not negate what the Air Force talked about acquiring new store's
09:23pylons for the B-52 fleet with a higher payload, and Boeing clearly started working on its
09:28own design called Hercules, which allows the aircraft to carry 20,000 pounds on each wing
09:34and adapt not only to expand the arsenal of existing weapons, but also hypersonic missiles
09:39that will soon be available to the US Air Force.
09:42The most vicious weapons of the B-52 were, are and will be nuclear weapons.
09:48Since 1971, modifications of the B-52G and B-52H have received the ability to carry up
09:54to 20 AGM-69 SRAM nuclear missiles and a little later they were replaced by AGM-86 missiles.
10:02And even though the B-52H bombers that remained in service were subsequently stripped of their
10:07nuclear fangs back in 2010, voices from US Congress about returning these celestial giants
10:13to nuclear status have been heard more often recently.
10:16In the summer of 2024 there was talk of restoring the nuclear capability of at least 30 of the
10:2176 US Air Force B-52H bombers, which would soon receive an upgrade to the B-52J modification.
10:29They'll be equipped with the latest air-launched cruise missiles with a nuclear warhead AGM-181
10:34long-range standoff weapon.
10:36The only question is, does the US Air Force still have the enthusiasm to rearm its old
10:40B-52s with a nuclear arsenal, even if they've extended their service until the early 2050s?
10:46Especially if today's military command is busy preparing fresh Lockheed B-21 Raider
10:51bombers for operation, only time will show.
10:55Do you think the Stratofortress will be able to supplant the younger B-2 Spirit and B-21
10:59Raider, regaining its place at the top of the nuclear triad?
11:02Share your guesses in the comments.
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11:12Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next one!