{"id":67858,"date":"2024-02-12T16:32:54","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/02\/12\/the-new-b-52-how-the-air-force-is-prepping-to-fly-century-old-bombers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:03:06","slug":"the-new-b-52-how-the-air-force-is-prepping-to-fly-century-old-bombers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2024\/02\/12\/the-new-b-52-how-the-air-force-is-prepping-to-fly-century-old-bombers\/","title":{"rendered":"The new B-52: How the Air Force is prepping to fly century-old bombers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. \u2014 As it idled on the flight line here, a B-52H Stratofortress<\/a> known as the Red Gremlin II looked much the same as it did in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the U.S. Air Force\u2019s B-52 bomber fleet<\/a> is showing its age, and the Red Gremlin II is no exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a crisp, clear morning in January, its five-person aircrew from the 11th Bomb Squadron ran through preflight checks for a training mission, tallying up what was broken and how serious the problems were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instructor pilot Lt. Col. Michael DeVita\u2019s digital display \u2014 a relatively recent system known as the Combat Network Communications Technology, or CONECT \u2014 wasn\u2019t working. The radar altimeter was down. And the targeting pod display, needed for a key element of the planned simulated bombing, was on the fritz. At one point, DeVita, the squadron commander, leaned over and gave a stubborn dial three solid taps to unstick it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the last six decades, the Red Gremlin II and the other 75 B-52s still in use have been the backbone of the Air Force\u2019s bomber fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have conducted around-the-clock nuclear alert missions at the edge of Soviet airspace<\/a> as well as massive bombing campaigns during the Vietnam War. They helped carry out strikes on Iraq that paved the way for the rapid ground assault of Operation Desert Storm. And in recent years, these aircraft<\/a> conducted precision-guided strikes against the Taliban and the Islamic State group<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the Stratofortress needs to last another 36 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A U.S. Air Force B-52 drops a string of 750-pound bombs over a coastal target in Vietnam during the Vietnam War in October 1965. (U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force is preparing to bring on its newest stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, and retire the aging B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit. Sometime in the 2030s, the service plans to have a fleet of two bombers \u2014 at least 100 B-21s and the current fleet of 76 B-52s, modernized top to bottom with a slate of upgrades<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the most sweeping revamp of the U.S. bomber fleet<\/a> in more than a generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This $48.6 billion overhaul is intended to keep the (eventually redubbed) B-52J operational until about 2060 \u2014 meaning the Air Force could be flying nearly century-old bombers. When the last B-52 was delivered in 1962, it was expected to last 20 years, the Defense Department\u2019s inspector general said in a November 2023 report.<\/p>\n\n\n\t