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2004-07-28 Home Front: Tech

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Posted by Steve 2004-07-28 12:54:05 PM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Whoa! A B-52 Screech!
Speaking of passive counter-measures.....
I wonder how much tin-foil one of them suckers could haul.

Posted by Shipman 2004-07-28 2:06:47 PM|| 2004-07-28 2:06:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 I wonder how much air-borne LASER or CPB they could haul? Think about it. What beats a laser?

Posted by Anonymoose 2004-07-28 2:12:29 PM|| 2004-07-28 2:12:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 A mirror

Posted by Michael 2004-07-28 2:16:28 PM|| 2004-07-28 2:16:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Anonymoose: three kings

The B-52 is the battleship of the air. Keep them flying! Hey, how about bringing back the battleships? Nothing says navel power like a 16 inch shell in the morning...

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-07-28 2:16:43 PM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2004-07-28 2:16:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 In the Air Force we had a name for slow flying aircraft that eminated lots of EW gear....TARGETS! Dumb idea, retire the airframe, and move on. We already have the EF-111 and the EC-130 that do a fine job of eletronic warfare. they work with an ECM package (F-15E armed with HARM missiles). I will miss the BUFF, but I think it's time to send it to DM on a final flight.

Posted by Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-07-28 3:42:15 PM|| 2004-07-28 3:42:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 When was the last B-52 put into service? How old are some of the ones still flying? They can't be the same ones from the 50s and 60s are they?

Posted by Anonymous5902 2004-07-28 3:57:29 PM|| 2004-07-28 3:57:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Sorry Cyber Sarge, the EF-111's beat the B-52 to the boneyard: The last squadron of EF-111s remaining in service, at Cannon AFB, NM, peformed the Suppression of Enemy Air Defense [SEAD] mission. DOD decided to retire the EF-111A jammer and replace it with a new Air Force system, the high speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) targeting system on the F-16C, and the existing Navy electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6B. Recognizing that too few EA-6B aircraft may be available to meet both Air Force and Navy needs, DOD retained these 12 EF-111s in the active inventory through 1998, when additional upgraded EA-6Bs became available. The Raven's replacement, the Prowler, is a four-seat derivative of the highly successful A-6 Intruder. It features an upgraded version of the same tactical jamming system employed by the Raven.
Trouble is the EA-6Bs are almost as old as the 111 and there are not enough of them. I think the EB-52 is a gap filler till they can get a unmanned EW drone.

Posted by Steve 2004-07-28 4:02:11 PM|| 2004-07-28 4:02:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 A5902 - IIRC (History Channel show from 2 months ago) they're all the original ones from the 50's & 60's, as you mentioned. I believe they were designed for 30 years of service, of course they're well past that by now.

Posted by Raj 2004-07-28 4:02:46 PM|| 2004-07-28 4:02:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 October 26, 1962 Same date as the B-58 Hustler (No it was not named for Clinton.)

Posted by Mr. Davis 2004-07-28 4:08:25 PM|| 2004-07-28 4:08:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 A total of 744 B-52s were built with the last, a B-52H, delivered in October 1962. Only the H model is still in the Air Force inventory and all are assigned to Air Combat Command. The first of 102 B-52H's was delivered to Strategic Air Command in May 1961. The H model can carry up to 20 air launched cruise missiles. In addition, it can carry the conventional cruise missile which was launched from B-52G models during Desert Storm. Today, 94 B-52H's are all that remain of 744 Stratofortresses built in the '50s and '60s.

Report on their estimated service life here. They are going to try to keep them flying until 2025!

Posted by Steve 2004-07-28 4:12:19 PM|| 2004-07-28 4:12:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 (note to self - let Steve field these question in the future...)

Posted by Raj 2004-07-28 4:58:37 PM|| 2004-07-28 4:58:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Thanks Raj, Steve. Amazing that the air frames can take it!

Posted by Anonymous5902 2004-07-28 5:06:27 PM|| 2004-07-28 5:06:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Steve, We still have other airframes to provide tactical SEAD packages. The Buff looks menacing when its all by itself or in a group, but looks like a juicy steak to SAM crews and Fighters. My bust on the EF-111 but he EC-130 (Compass Call) is very much in use. The CC is a juicy target too and usually hangs well back of the battle and the BUFF would have the same problem (just less people on board). There are F-16, F-15, and F-18 variants that carry an ESM pod (and HARMs) that is used on SEAD packages. Radar directed missiles are ususally not a problem because the enemy is too scared to turn them on (lest they become a HARM target). Let the BUFF retire with dignity, before they start to fall from the sky and taint their career.

Posted by Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-07-28 5:19:10 PM|| 2004-07-28 5:19:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 It's just one of those classic designs; a gift which keeps on giving...on, and on, and on...

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2004-07-28 5:37:26 PM|| [www.sgtstryker.com] 2004-07-28 5:37:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Retire the Buff but keep the A-6 sure... why not.
I know it's different now.... but I used to run a typesetter that had the same S-300 Bus has the A-6.

Posted by Shipman 2004-07-28 5:42:55 PM|| 2004-07-28 5:42:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 If they are going to keep the Buff they need to give them new engines. Those planes should be using 4 turbofans instead of 8 turbojets.

Posted by remote man 2004-07-28 7:56:44 PM|| 2004-07-28 7:56:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 My point is a basic military axiom: why have a passive device when you can have (another) weapon?

In a serious war, a B-52 is ineffective as a bomber. But as (one of the few) airships that *could* carry a *devastating* air-to-air or air-to-ground weapon like a laser or CPB, making it absolutely a king of battle, it could guarantee air superiority for anything else we fly.

Posted by Anonymoose 2004-07-28 10:01:00 PM|| 2004-07-28 10:01:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Back in the day when we were worried about the Sovs streaming Backfires down the UK-I-G gap to shoot up convoys I always wondered why the BUFF could not of been fitter with the radar from a F-14 and a bomb bay and wing pylons full of missles.

Posted by cheaderhead 2004-07-28 11:28:01 PM|| 2004-07-28 11:28:01 PM|| Front Page Top

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