Jeff gets an amazingly long-lived no-prize for bringing us news of yet another B-52 Stratofortress expansion:
A B-52 from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., was launched with Boeing’s prototype integrated weapons interface unit that allowed the bomber to release, for the first time, eight 2,000 pound joint-direct attack munitions from the internal bomb bay. The test took place at the Utah Test and Training Range.
As I recall, current Air Force plans show the B-52s still on active duty in 2025. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if this thing ends up being the first weapon system in the modern era to last longer than a century.
It's just a very well designed plane. It hauls stuff very well, flies very high, and blows stuff up "real good". Unfortunately, I never got actually work on one - I was confined to fighters and cargo aircraft...
Posted by: ronaprhys on June 27, 2005 12:33 PM