Why does America keep relying on its 60-year-old B-52 fleet

America is still upgrading its ancient fleet of B-52 bombers despite having two fleets of newer bombers in service and another new stealth bomber in active testing. And this is because the B-52 can do things that no other aircraft can.

Even America’s youngest B-52s today are over 64 years old. But they have benefited from America’s massive Defense budgets all throughout the Cold War. In fact, a single B-52H today can carry an extremely impressive 20 AGM-86B nuclear air-launched cruise missiles.

The AGM-86B uses terrain contour-matching navigation and a turbofan engine to deliver variable nuclear payloads of up to 150 kilotons to targets more than 1,500 miles away – nearly 10 times the explosive yield of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

That means that a single B-52, delivered in 1962 and carrying weapons that entered service in 1982, can deliver as much destructive power as all of the munitions, including atomic bombs, expended by all nations throughout the entirety of World War II, and it can do it from well outside the reach of enemy air defenses and even combat air patrols.

And just as importantly, it can do it for a bargain: at around $88,000 an hour to fly, the B-52 costs 52% less per flight hour than the B-2 Spirit, and almost 65% less than the B-1B Lancer.

The B-2 Spirit and new B-21 Raider are objectively great platforms filled with advanced technology and sporting great capabilities. Yes, all that power under the hood means their operating costs, which include maintenance and repairs, are very high.

It isn’t that the B-52 is better than the B-1B or the B-2, because “better” is relative. But there’s no denying that running the old B-52 is a lot cheaper and having underwing pylons rated for 20,000 pounds worth of munitions comes in handy more often than the gadgets or the speed of the Air Force’s newer options.

That’s why the B-52 keeps getting a new lease on life. Because as advanced, capable, and impressive as the B-21 Raider may be, it will never be able to offer the cost-effective utility of our turbo-diesel B-52. And that’s also why the U.S. Air Force needs to field a replacement for the B-52 that follows in its same utilitarian lineage, rather than chasing traits like low observability.

Uncle Sam’s already got a sleek sports car of a bomber in the B-21, but he’s still got to be able to haul lumber to the job site, and nothing does that quite like a good old pickup that is the B-52.

Feature Image: B-52 bomber (U.S. Air Force)

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