Why N. Korea, Russia and China All Fear America's B-52 Bombers

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we've already examined the colorful analysis offered by Philippine president Rodrigo tutored regarding his country's new jet fighter so let's today look at the aviation insights offered by a politician on our home shores in the September 26th presidential debate pitting Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump when questioned about nuclear doctrine Trump stated but Russia has been expanding their they have a much newer capability than we do we have not been updating from the new standpoint I looked the other night I was seeing b-52s they're old enough that's your father your grandfather could be flying them we are not we are not keeping up with other countries the gist of it appears to be the b-52 is an obsolete airplane that proves that the United States Air Force has fallen behind the rest of the world particularly Russia you can call off the fact checkers on this one the b-52 stratofortress first flew in 1952 and ended its production run in 1962 so the 76 b-52 h's in air force service turn older than nearly anyone flying them Trump is literally accurate in stating that your grandfather may have flown the plane in that there is at least one family with three generations of e52 crew members such a story plane is worthy of its own profile how many planes can claim their own hairstyle 1970s rock band in cocktail but we'll stick to the questions of its current relevance for now the b-52 nicknamed the buff was originally intended to drop nuclear gravity bombs on the Soviet Union that would already had been suicidal by the end of the 1960s given the rapid improvement of surface-to-air in air-to-air missiles and would be even more so today the b-52 has been deployed and virtually every major military conflict in the United States has engaged in since the Gulf War why the b-52 still has two things going for it it can carry a lot of bombs and missiles and it can carry them very far eight thousand eight hundred miles before even factoring an in-flight refueling which you should the airframe also has a lot of space for upgrades so basically it's a long distance bomb and missile truck while if the target has air defenses then each b-52 can lug up to 20 agm-86 air-launched cruise missiles which can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads across oceans and launch them from hundreds of miles away if you need to search a ton of firepower somewhere halfway across the world from the nearest airbase the capability is there but b-52s often haven't had to use expensive cruise missile because most of America's recent opponents such as the Taliban in Afghanistan or Isis and Middle East don't have the powerful surface-to-air missile necessary to shoot at a b-52 flying at high altitude b-52s loaded with 12 JD AM GPS guided bombs are four to ten gbu laser-guided bombs connoted over battle zones awaiting close air support requests from troops on the ground of course a jet fighter can do the same job that fighters have shorter range and can't loiter overhead for nearly as long when the United States intervened against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 it was b-52s and more modern b-1s flying from the United States lugging precision-guided bombs that dropped much of the initial ordnance because the US Air Force did not yet have local air bases from which its fighters could operate from today b-52s are actively flying missions against Isis and the Taliban [Music] carpet-bombing involves dropping hundreds or thousands of unguided bombs to carpet the target area it's an indiscriminate technique which does have a nasty shock effect the b-52 is certainly capable of it it can carry fifty-one conventional 500 or 750 pound bombs or around 40 cluster bombs b-52s did perform low-level carpet bombing attacks against Iraqi troops snuck in exposed defensive positions in the middle of the desert during the 1991 Gulf War however the Air Force is uninterested in carpet bombing today it only works against dense we concentrated targets which is certainly is not typical of the opponents it fights today it also produces tons of collateral damage and couldn't be employed near civilian areas without causing heavy civilian casualties for minimal military benefits carpet bombing during World War two even on the occasions it was militarily effective produced disproportionately civilian and of times even friendly casualties blowing up in isis-held city would clearly be a war crime and if that isn't enough to dissuade then the obvious political and military consequences should be being able to fly over great distances for hours is very handy for patrolling and interdicting large bodies of water think of the vastness of South China Sea the control of which is contested by China b-52s may not have the same sensors as the dedicated maritime patrol planes operated by the Navy but some have been equipped with litany and powerful dragon's eye surface search radar pods which can detect and identify vessels some have also been modified to carry a GM 184 harpoon anti-ship missiles the latest version of which has a range of over 160 miles so b-52s could play a useful role in a maritime conflict now that we're back to talking about the b-52 is a sort of missile truck there is even talk of using than this flying Arsenal planes possibly even to carry anti-aircraft missiles insanity you say here this one out u.s. fighters are limited in the numbers of air-to-air missiles they can carry particularly stealth fighters this could be a problem if faced by a numerically superior force so instead stealth fighters could ride points and use they're hard to detect active electronically scanned array radars to spot approaching enemy aircraft and then use data links in networking to relay that data to another platform such as a ship or an Arsenal planes such as a b-52 or b-1 loaded with dozens of very long-range air-to-air missiles for now it's just a theory and one with its limitations particularly if the other Sun has stealth fighters but it's one the Pentagon is actively considering enough with missiles let's talk about one last application of the b-52 it serves as a highly visible means to make a show of force aircraft remained one of the more vulnerable ways to deploy a nuclear weapon when compared to ballistic missiles launched from submerged submarines or silos deep underground in the United States but the latter two systems are hard to show off whereas you can deploy a b-52 closer to a crisis zone and have it perform over flights to send a clear threatening message silly diplomatic posturing of no military value you say in fact a report recommends that the Air Force retain its nuclear weapon capabilities primarily on the basis that it is a stronger means of communicating a threat posture when compared to other methods in the nuclear triad nobody actually wants to use nukes the hope is that they will be swayed opposing countries from aggressive courses of action so you can occasionally seize reports of b-52s conducting over flights of airspace claimed by China over the South China Sea or a flyby at North Korea after a nuclear test just like the incidents where Russian 295 bared bombers buzzed by the coast of England or California the b-52s indiscreet character actually better serves the political purpose of the flybys doesn't the metal in the airframes wear down what about the ancient avionics and engines this is a consideration but don't worry the Air Force is confident at speed 50 tests will remain air worthy through 2040 and possibly longer this is thanks to the b-52s robust and conservative design which allowed more tolerance for stress than later higher performing aircraft also it's because the Air Force has invested billions of dollars in keeping the b-52 air worthy and up-to-date nonetheless the avionics are old a New York Times article describe the old hydraulics and wiring and glitchy outdated computer systems that still remain in the b-52 despite various upgrades and add-ons but the airforce is spending 1 point 1 billion dollars upgrading the Buffs with its connect avionics upgrade including modernized displays communication systems in data links for networking with friendly forces it will also soon install the new internal weapons bay upgrade which will allow it to carry additional guided weapons in its bomb bay the bay would carry eight additional JD a.m. type weapons or even allow the b-52 to deploy miniature air launch decoy mall missiles which can confuse enemy air defenses and even deployed radar jamming systems the b-52s old TF 33 turbofan engines are also inefficient as in 3,000 gallons an hour inefficient the Air Force would like to replace them with something less costly to maintain and operate but can't find the money so they're floating a proposal to have a private company to the repairs on credit once the new engines were replaced the government would use the money saved and fuel economy to pay back for the upgrade certainly an example in creative financing despite its flaws the b-52s are still getting the job done and the airforce clearly thinks they are useful this is not the true for all of its oldies but goodies the top brass has been pushing to retire the a-10 another aged platform that also shines in low threat environments in 2015 after a b-52 crashed in an accident the Air Force spent 13 million dollars dollars for generating a b-52 H retired to its famous aircraft boneyard in the Arizona desert to takes its place simply because 13 million dollars is way less than the cost of any new bomber there are still 12 more b-52 HS in reserve in the boneyard the Air Force does operate to more modern bombers the b-2 spirit stealth bomber and the b-1 lancer but neither is poised to completely replace the b-52 the b-2 spirit is a stealth plane which means it has a good chance of penetrating enemy air defenses that's highly useful against a peer opponent but there are only 20 of them in service they are somewhat temperamental and they cost 135 thousand dollars an hour to fly and maintain all twice the flying cost of the b-52 that expense in the spirits reduced fuel and bomb load mean that it's not really ideal to use it as an everyday bomb truck and relatively safe environments nor to serve as a maritime patrol plane though in the event of war with a pier power its stealth abilities would certainly pay off nor is an undetectable stealth plane great for the whole diplomatic big stick mission either the b-1b Lancer on the other hand does perform largely similar missions to the b-52 and it can carry more munitions fly 25% faster 830 miles per hour and with less visibility on radar but in today's air defense environment it's still too visible to be a proper stealth plane and too slow to avoid interception so even though it's better than the b-52 the Air Force still would be reluctant to send it into well environments in the end the b1 popularly nicknamed bones have been used quite effectively to deploy laser-guided bombs and cruise missiles from high above just like the b-52 the b1 B is generally superior and has a lower operating cost of 60,000 dollars an hour compared to the $70,000 required by the b-52 though it's also hampered by a lower of a in the end because the Air Force maintains only 63 b-1s the b-52s filling when the Lancers are or simply neither break which is how b-52's came to be deployed in the fight against Isis earlier this year airports just announced procurement of the b21 Raider formerly known as the long-range strike bomber the b21 is a stealth aircraft that rather resembles a b-2 spirit the idea behind the new b21 is to have a long-range bomber that can cross oceans and operates undetected by powerful air defense radars deployed by China and Russia including low band radars normally more effective of detecting stealth planes it'll be absolutely huge though only figuratively it's thought to be slightly smaller than the B to the B 21 surprised that over 1/2 billion of peace before the inevitable cost inflation so you certainly can't say the Air Force is failing to invest in new technology though some argue the Pentagon should have negotiated a final price that's less furtive than the aircraft [Music] Russia currently operates three types of bombers the speedy tu-22m3 backfire the even faster and larger tu-160s blackjack in the 295 bear all capable cold warrior designs however none of them are stealth aircraft capable of penetrating enemy air defenses like the b2 or the forthcoming b 21 the swing-wing tu-22m3 can fly over 70% faster than the b1 but at the expense of carrying much less armament and fuel speed has not proven the shore defense for the type 1 was shot down by Georgian surface-to-air missiles in 2008 the massive tu-160 is a sort of swaying wing mega bomber it can attain Mach 2 can fly even further than the b1 and can carry nearly as much weaponry they are also extremely expensive to produce maintain and operate Russia only has 16 many of which are not currently in flying condition like the b1 though it has a reduced radar cross-section it's not a plane that wants to be anywhere close to enemy air defenses finally we come to Russia's 60-ish 295 SMS into 142 bears which basically serve as Russia's b-52s the bear is just us old first flight to 1952 it's assigned roughly similar missions maritime patrol lug and cruise missiles scaring foreign countries and it is them pretty well but the propeller powered plane is nonetheless slower in tolerably noisy and carries less than half the bomb load of the b-52 to round it out the only other heavy bombers used an extensive numbers today are China's 120 H success upgrades of Cold War to 16s with inferior range and payload compared to the b-52 Russia indeed has come out with a lot of new weapons systems recently but in the air it's largely a game of catch-up Russia's new su-35 which is in limited production may arguably have an edge over the f-15 Eagle which entered in service in 1976 but not the f-22 Raptor stealth fighter Russia is developing its own t-50 stealth fighter the 12 currently on order would give Russia 1/10 the number of Raptor stealth fighters the United States already possesses in operational units without counting the newer though less capable f-35s arguably in ground warfare technology that Russia has made some bigger strides with its new t14 arm added tank of which 100 are on order but for now it relies primarily on thousands of t-72s upgraded versions of the type devastated by US ground and air forces in the 1991 Gulf War Russian missiles do appear to have daunting capabilities including the upcoming sea launch zircon missile the s400 surface-to-air missile in the iscandar short-range ballistic missile system of the lateral weapon type the russians rely on more because they can't assume their power will do the jobs for them and of course Russia still retains the capacity to bring about a nuclear apocalypse with intercontinental ballistic missiles just like the United States can there's no denying that Russia has made some major improvements in its military capabilities in recent years despite its floundering economy however the United States spent five hundred ninety seven million dollars on defense in 2016 compared to 87 million dollars for Russia a disparity of nearly seven to one in many cases even when Russia has developed promising new technology it can't afford to deploy than significant quantity the b-52 is nicknamed the buff which stands for big ugly fat fellow though in fact a different deaf word applies at the end however lives aren't everything the b-52 may not do the sexy stealthy work of penetrating enemy air defenses and dodging Sims and interceptors but it does every day job at hauling tons of ordnance across the globe and dropping it on top of Isis insurgent basis and Taliban fighters often at the request of hard-pressed troops on the ground newer fancier beasts exists for the task and even more capable ones are on the way but for now the b-52 doesn't want it it is rather well without real need in the replacement why chose out something old but reliable that does the job [Music]

Channel: US Military News

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Rating: 4.3406048 out of 5

Keywords: military, bombers, aircraft, plane, airplane, aviation, b-52, b-52 bomber, bomber, boeing b-52 stratofortress, stratofortress, b-52 stratofortress bomber, b-52 bombers, the buff, b-2 bomber, b-1, tu-22, tu-95, tu-160, t-50, h-6k, su-35, s-400, armed forces, air force, usaf, us air force, air, airport, airpower, weapons, nuclear, stealth, stealth bombers, defenses, flying, us military, America's, russia, china, korea, us, war, carpet bombing, strategic bomber, flight, extreme, technology, warfare, interceptor, fly, bomb

Id: HYtRVYkfbzQ

Length: 18min 52sec (1132 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 02 2017